


Wouldn't It Be Nice?

by FivePips, jennandblitz



Series: Rock 'n' Pole [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Asexual Character, Asexuality Spectrum, Awkward Flirting, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, Genderfluid, Genderfluid Character, Getting Together, It's All Far Too Adorable, Marly is a Legend, Meet-Ugly, Misunderstandings, Other, Pole Dancing, Rock Climbing, So Off-Brand for Both of Us, Texting, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, asexual!Remus, first meetings gone wrong, genderfluid!Sirius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-08-14 11:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 26,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20191756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FivePips/pseuds/FivePips, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennandblitz/pseuds/jennandblitz
Summary: What happens when you meet the person that you had been drooling over for 4 and a half minutes? Well, it's not all sunshine and rainbows at first, but there is some potential if they could just get by the miscommunication. Remus and Sirius find this out after spotting one another at the International Pole Dancing Championship and Convention. Meet-Cute? More like Meet-Ugly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What started as a fluffy drabble collab turned into this 20k+ monster of tooth-rotting fluffiness.
> 
> Sirius' POV/Dialogue: jennandblitz  
Remus' POV/Dialogue: marlenemckinn

Letting Marlene and/or Dorcas talk him into anything tended to be a tragic mistake for Remus. For instance, he was promised a fun musical, but he was dragged to some avant garde version of Much Ado About Nothing. He knew the play well enough, but had no idea what was happening on stage. It felt like a bad acid trip. Then another time he thought he was going to a classic car show, and it ended up being a monster truck rally. Not to mention once they made him sit through a four hour silent film. That was a horror show on many counts.

Needless to say, Remus was the one to schedule most of their outings because he didn’t trust their judgement. Yet, he somehow ended up being coerced into going to a pole dancing championship and convention. Marlene was an instructor, and was going to be there teaching some classes. She got free tickets for Dorcas and Remus because of the gig. Remus didn’t want to go, but Dorcas was so hard to turn down (really, he was plied with her offering to buy drinks the next few nights they went out).

“Come on, Moony, it’s going to be a good time.” Dorcas linked their arms together as they walked into the convention center.

“Yeah, sure brilliant time,” Remus muttered as they made their way through the busy entrance hall.

“Let’s find Marly, and say hello. We can figure out what we’re doing from there.”

They entered a hall under a banner reading: WELCOME TO THE INTERNATIONAL POLE DANCING CHAMPIONSHIP AND CONVENTION! The large hall was broken up by temporary walls. In the front of the hall were various vendors. There were many different types of businesses selling their wares from clothes, shoes, equipment, and so on. Remus didn’t realize that so much was needed to do pole dancing outside of a pole and probably little clothing.

Remus was surprised with the people that were milling about the convention hall. They varied in ages, genders, races, and body types. He didn’t _ mean _ to make assumptions about the type of people he would see at a pole dancing competition, but he did. They thought they’d all be young, and nearly all women in their twenties and thirties as well as being insanely toned and skinny. That was not the case, which was interesting. This fact didn’t make Remus any less grumpy to be there because he still didn’t get the point to it all. He could have been at the gym where he was a rock climbing instructor, doing something he actually enjoyed.

They found Marlene wearing a pair of gold leggings and black sports bra watching another instructor’s class at the end of the hall. Dorcas tackled her in a hug and pressed kisses all over her face. “Hello, you gorgeous creature,” Dorcas said when she straightened up.

“‘lo, love.” Marlene grinned, snaking an arm around Dorcas’ waist. “Did you two just get here?”

“Yes, Remus wouldn’t get out the door.”

Remus rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. This wasn’t his cup of tea, and they knew it. He was only there for the promise of free drinks. “What are we supposed to be doing here? I’m not pole dancing.”

“Take a look around the booths, and then the men’s championship starts in about an hour,” Marlene said looking at her Apple Watch. “Go get a seat in like thirty minutes, though. I think you’ll like someone that’s competing.”

The groan was meant to be internal but it became audible. Why on earth was Marlene making him do this? Not only was he going to be stuck here, now he was being setup. “Who?”

“I’m not telling you. I want to see if you naturally have an interest in them.” Marlene gave him a bright smile. “Get going, will you? I have work to do.”

The girls kissed once more before Dorcas and Remus went off to look at the different booths. Dorcas made a fool of herself trying on some leather harness thing at one of the stalls. She made Remus take photos to send to Marlene before she would take it off. He didn’t want to know if the harness was going to be purchased or not.

At a different stall Remus found something that he was actually familiar with. The vendor sold the same brand of grip tape that Remus used climbing. Oddly enough it made him feel somewhat more comfortable to see something that he recognized. He picked up a roll of blue tape to show to Dorcas. “Hey, Dorky, look at this. I know what this is!”

“Oh god, really, Moony? Put it down, you don’t need that. Let’s go find a good seat in the other hall to watch the competition. I really don’t think that you want to miss it.”

“Ha, you really don’t know me at all after nearly a decade of friendship,” Remus scoffed after setting the tape down.

Dorcas shook her head then grabbed his arm to pull him along. He didn’t put up a fight because it wasn’t as if there were any other options for him. There was no way that he was going to be able to wiggle out of this one.

In the other hall, Remus found rows and rows of folding chairs in front of a stage with two poles set up on it. The lights were up on the floor, but down on the stage. It was only backlit in blue. Remus wondered how anyone could perform by themselves on a stage so large in front of so many people. He also couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he was going to have to sit through god knows how many performers in such an uncomfortable seat.

They were only a couple rows back from the front, and right in the center. Remus got a little anxious because the row was filled up on either side of him. He tried to take his mind off of his anxiety by playing with the leather bracelet he always wore. At some point the lights on the floor went down and the announcer introduced the first performer. Remus only glanced up to watch the routines at the very beginning, or when a cheer up went in the audience. 

Nothing about it caught his eye. Sure, they were athletic, but it did nothing for Remus. He wondered if he could do any of the moves that he saw himself. He did have decent upper body strength seeing that he had been climbing for ages. They must have used the same muscle groups, but the pole was much different from climbing courses or rocks.

“Now introducing, Sirius Black!” The announcers baritone echoed through the arena, and Remus looked up to the dark stage to see a figure silhouetted in the shadows .

Then the lights went up, “Oh, fuck.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The routine that Sirius performs is [this one](https://youtu.be/jEm4rUSueDE) by Daniel Darling, we highly _highly_ recommend you watch it if you can!

99.99% of the time Sirius loved their job; be able to dance and teach pole full time, as well as campaign with some wonderful people for acceptance of all different walks of life in the pole community was really their dream. But today was the 0.01% of the time where Sirius wanted to be anywhere else. 

Pole Competitions were usually their favourite, but their routine today was sort of edgy and gave Sirius nowhere to hide with their body—again that wasn’t  _ usually _ a problem, but today Sirius wanted to scratch their own skin off. All morning they’d been grumpy but now as they were stretching backstage, everything seemed to melt away easily enough. Dancing let Sirius leave behind all the hang-ups and low-lying, lingering dysphoria and just appreciate their body for the tool it was. It was good at what it did.

Sirius was feeling pretty good after a little internal self pep talk as they pulled off an oversized Iron Maiden shirt and were left in the black shorts they were performing in. Next, the makeup ‘bruises’ that were part of the act, positioned perfectly for where the pole would hit during various moves and amped up to a deep purple to show on stage. Satisfied, they hummed hello to one of the other performers and settled on the sofa to weave their shoulder-length black hair into a braided updo that made them feel significantly better about the severely masculine way they were presenting on stage today.

In the wings Sirius made sure the cuffs were secured around their ankles and wrists, swallowed around the collar at their throat and, just before walking on stage, clipped the cuffs together. They had to remember they loved this routine, as much as they wanted to go home and wrap up in a big blanket and forget they even had a body, they had to love it for the moment.

The lights came up to Sirius kneeling on stage, cheers ringing through the auditorium from their friends. They focused on the movements, on breathing, grinning to themselves when they heard the cheers—and a particular shriek—as they dislocated their shoulders for a move. Dancing made them feel better. Here, on stage, Sirius was where they felt comfortable, playing with all those gender ideals ingrained in society. They could walk the line between out-dated, binary gender. 

It was as Sirius knelt up to unclasp the chain linking the cuffs that they saw a man in the crowd. Not completely unheard of, true, but instead of staring at the stage, at Sirius, in wonder, confusion, disgust, he was staring at his lap. He was  _ cute _ though, good god. Sirius sank into the routine again, pointing their toes, striding and strutting. They knew they made it look sort of effortless, gripping the pole and lifting their body weight so easily to spin and twist and pirouette around, but it definitely  _ wasn’t _ easy. 

The first real spin and catch made them a little breathless—nope, it definitely wasn’t easy—but the cheers of the crowd egged them on and Sirius really loved playing up to them like this; really feeling the dance and the character and pouting and preening for the audience. So many male pole dancers were expected to only do the  _ manly _ moves and not roll around on the floor and amp up their sexuality and Sirius loved playing with that, they weren’t  _ male _ and they weren’t just here for the heavy lifting and they were allowed to be sexual just as much as women were in this safe space.

Sirius kept looking back to the man a few rows back, right in the centre. Oh, now he was looking up, intrigued perhaps, and  _ oh _ , he was gorgeous. He had a mess of curly light brown hair and those  _ arms _ . Sirius straightened up and stepped back to the pole, tossing their head and baring the collar at their throat. They were pretty sure the judges would eat up the whole characterisation and it was that they concentrated on, not trying to eye-fuck this pretty man sat in the third row. Eye contact with the judges was more important, for the moment, at the peak of every spin or catch with a wry little smile as the soundtrack said  _ I’m just a sucker for pain _ . 

At the top of the pole, Sirius hung upside down, muscles burning already but it was the good kind of burn. One leg hooked around for grip, one hand braced for stability, Sirius arched their back to lift their upper body to the audience. It was then they made eye contact with that man for the first time, staring now.  _ Let him look _ , Sirius thought and lifted their other hand to touch at their bottom lip, smirking. They saw a glimmer of something over the man’s features before Sirius snapped back to the task at hand and dropped to the floor, already melting into the next sequence. 

They lost themselves in the routine for a moment, heart pounding and chest heaving. Sirius might make it look effortless but it was anything but. A moment of (sort of) pause came as they hooked one knee around the pole and braced with their other foot, spinning around to smile at the audience and catch the man’s eye again with a slow smirk. The crowd were cheering but Sirius was just staring at the man. God, he was so gorgeous.

At the end of the routine Sirius was on their hands and knees, everything was sore but they were rushing with adrenaline, crawling from the pole to centre stage. Sirius’ movements were sinuous and slow, sliding their knees along the floor and shifting their hips from side to side. They looked up through the wisps of hair fallen in front of their eyes to see the man still watching. Sirius tried not to think about crawling towards him like this in a different, more private situation lest their body react. Was the man  _ blushing? _ His cheeks were all pink across the high points as Sirius laid themselves out on stage to the cheers of the crowd. 

Sirius grinned as they unfolded to standing and saw the man clapping along. Emboldened by the rush of the performance, Sirius shot the man a wink before turning and striding off stage. Lily met them with a grin and a hug, handing Sirius a towel to wipe off the sweat with shaking hands.

“Jesus, Sirius. That was perfect.” Lily smacked them on the arm. “How are you so damn bendy?”

Sirius retorted with a whip of their towel and a grin. “‘Fraid I can’t disclose magical secrets, Lil.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Yep. You love it.” Sirius eased past Lily and back to their bag, shrugging back on their shirt. They were just perching on the edge of the sofa, undoing the ankle cuffs when there was a hand on their shoulder.

“Sirius! Hello love! How are you?” Marlene was grinning from ear to ear and talking so fast Sirius could barely keep up. They took a breath to answer but Marlene was already taking their hand and pulling them out of the prep room. “I have someone I want you to meet, okay? Just say you will, come say hi, Dorcas is there too and she hasn’t seen you in ages!”

“Alright, alright!” Sirius said, dropping their towel and tripping after Marlene. They cleared their throat and put on a bit of a voice. “Oh hi Marlene, lovely to see you, yeah, I’m great, just need a bloody minute to breathe after a four and a half minute routine for the championship, did you  _ see _ those splits for god’s sake... but I guess I’ll let you parade me around. How are  _ you? _ ”

Marlene just rolled her eyes. “It’ll be worth it, I promise.” She paused to let someone past with a big cart of harnesses that Sirius eyed with intrigue before Marlene started off again. “That routine was bloody brilliant, Sirius. Those makeup bruises?” She paused and peered at them. “They were makeup right?” Sirius nodded and rolled their eyes. “Perfect touch. It was gorgeous, very sexy, just the right amount of intimidating  _ you can try and tame me _ and still very  _ oh tie me down  _ come hither.”

“Thank you?” Sirius laughed, pulling their hand back to undo one of the cuffs around their wrist as Marlene lead the way back onto the convention floor. They were still out of breath, chest heaving, and desperate to go stretch out their feet and take a shower but instead Marlene was taking him off somewhere. This better be worth it.

“Oh of course, it’s a massive compliment, you idiot.” Marlene put an arm around their shoulders and squeezed a little before pulling them around a partition wall. “Come on, come on, Dorcas and Remus are just here.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> because we can't get enough of these two, here's the second chapter for today! this whole fic is written, so expect two chapters a day until we're all done (and there might possible be a sequel in the works!)

“Remus… Moony!” Dorcas whacked him on the arm to finally get his attention.

He couldn’t be too sure how long he was staring dumbly at the now empty stage after the performer had finished their routine. Oh, sweet Circe, what a routine! It was so different from the other people who Remus had barely glanced at for the last hour. At first, Remus was struck by the beauty of the man on stage. The performer, who was introduced as Sirius Black, had jet black hair done up in a beautiful braid. His lean body was adorned in tight shorts as well as cuffs on his ankles and wrists. There was also a collar. Remus felt like he couldn’t stare at him for too long or he would somehow make an arse out of himself.

Not being able to control himself, Remus’ eyes went back up to the stage to see the man effortlessly swing on the pole. There was something different about the way his body moved from the other men that had been on stage. The others had done some gymnastic like moves and looked to be showing off their strength.  _ Sirius _ flowed, as if he weighed nothing. It appeared as if he was not working on getting his body up and around. The beautiful man with the grey eyes was air, twisting and turning above the ground and rolling on the floor. Remus was gobsmacked.

Then he felt like he was going to combust when Sirius made eye contact with him… at least it felt like he made eye contact with Remus. He did this little touch to his bottom lip as if inviting Remus to come kiss him. That thought made his stomach squirm a little for one reason or another. Yet, he couldn’t stop watching the man fly on the pole and writhing around on the ground. He was completely entranced.

This eye contact didn’t just happen once, the performer kept looking at him. There had to be someone behind Remus that he was looking at. Maybe the man’s partner was there. That was the only other way to explain it. When the man crawled across the stage at the end, Remus felt his jaw drop slightly. This led Remus to staring at the stage like an idiot sometime after the performance ended.  _ Oh no. _

“Come on, I told Marly we’d meet her over there.” Dorcas grabbed his arm and attempted to haul him out of his seat. She was about a foot shorter than Remus, so it didn’t exactly work until Remus actually gave in and stood up.

“He was…” Remus trailed off because he didn’t have the correct words to describe what Sirius was.

“Good, yeah, yes, I get that. Jesus, Moony, did you like that or something? I thought you hated this.” Dorcas led him in the direction of a temporary wall on the right side of the stage. Everyone else in the hall was walking the opposite way, so it felt a bit like swimming against the current.

“Suddenly I have a new appreciation for the sport,” Remus muttered as he made sure not to walk into a blonde lady who was gushing about the last performance to the bloke next to her. He didn’t look as excited about it.

“I’m sure you do. Look, there’s Marly!” Dorcas pointed.

When Remus looked to where Dorcas’ finger pointed, he nearly tripped over his own two feet. Next to his friend was the man that had been just on stage. He was breathing heavily, chest heavy up and down. That was surprising because he looked to barely be working on stage. He was still in his shorts that he wore on stage, but was wearing an Iron Maiden shirt. The man didn’t look up from undoing the cuff on his right hand until Marlene practically yelled, “Remus! Dorcas! This is Sirius!”

The man’s head snapped up, his mouth forming a little ‘o’ and eyes going wide in surprise. Then the surprise melted away quickly and was replaced with a smirk.

Remus and Dorcas came to a stop in front of Sirius and Marlene. This was not what he was expecting when Marlene suggested that Remus would like someone earlier. Not that one would conjure Sirius Black in their mind.

“Sirius is one of the best in the sport! Wasn’t their performance brilliant? Oh, right, your pronouns, are they/them today, right, love?”

“Ah, yep.” Sirius shot a small smile at Marlene before looking back to Dorcas and Remus. “Hi.”

Remus smiled back, unsure of what to say or do for a moment. He was taken aback by the entire situation. “Hi… um, great job out there.”

Sirius rubbed the back of their neck, looking a little shy perhaps. “Thanks. I, er, saw you… in the audience.”

Surprised by Sirius’ awkwardness, Remus felt a bit more awkward himself. Their personality on stage was so brash and sexual, he thought for sure Sirius would be that way in person. “You saw me? Oh, ah, really?” Remus was sure that he was imagining the eye contact during the performance.

Marlene and Dorcas both let out quiet laughs.

“Yeah, er... “ Sirius laughed a little. “Helps to… have a focus when you’re… y’know, pirouetting… I picked you, I guess.”

The flush rose again in Remus’ cheeks. He kicked himself for being so bloody obvious. He was again unsure what he should say, thankfully Dorcas spoke up. “Sirius, you should come with us for drinks later!”

Sirius paused, looking at Dorcas, then back to Remus. They seemed to look him over for a moment. “Are you coming?”

“Yes, yeah, I’ll be there.” Remus nodded a little too enthusiastically.

“Okay. Sure. I’ll see you after the ceremony, then?” Sirius glanced between the trio.

“Yes!” Marlene said loudly, patting Sirius on the shoulder.

With a little wave, Sirius went back behind the partition, leaving Remus to bury his face in his hands. Why did he have to be such an idiot? “I hate you both.”

“What? Why? I just got you drinks with Sirius!” Marlene wrapped her arms around Remus.

He finally looked up from his hands when Marlene let him go. “Dorcas could have warned me the man I was just staring at like a moron was going to be who she was dragging me to meet!”

“Then you probably wouldn’t have come, Moony, we know you.” Dorcas elbowed him in the ribs. “Come on, let’s go get a snack or something. I’m starved. Then we’ll come watch the ceremony!”

Remus groaned, “Fine.”   
  



	4. Chapter 4

“Oh my God, why do you have to be such an idiot?” Sirius muttered to themselves as they stepped backstage, burying their head in their hands. “One look at an unreasonably handsome face and you’re a gibbering mess, fucking hell…”

What were the odds that the man they were staring at during their performance was the one Marlene wanted to set them up with? And then they had made it awkward. Remus probably thought Sirius was some suave sex god—which they were, when they had a moment to think and weren’t covered in sweat. Oh shit, they were wearing the fucking collar still. Christ, why, why, why? They’d just attempted to flirt, badly, with the most attractive man in the convention centre, whilst wearing a bloody collar and dripping sweat. They were going to  _ kill _ Marlene, drinks or no.

Shaking themselves out of it, Sirius went backstage, removed the bloody collar and swiped a quick makeup wipe over their face before heading for the changing rooms. Their heart soared at the gender neutral changing rooms and Sirius grinned as they showered quickly. Grateful for the hot water for a moment Sirius closed their eyes and saw Remus’ face there. Damn, they’d been  _ so awkward _ . 

Sirius convinced themselves they’d feel much better once they were in their own clothes and not fresh off stage. They hoped it were true. Out of the shower they quickly got dressed, pulling on a pair of skinny jeans and a deep red silk floaty shirt. Usually when they went on a date (except this wasn’t a date it was just drinks, they told themselves) they tried to masc it up a bit to conform a little more, but today they couldn’t be bothered with hiding. They shoved their feet into a pair of heeled booties and dragged a brush through their hair, leaving it loose and damp around their shoulders.

Lily poked her head into the changing rooms. “Sirius? Back on stage for the ceremony soon, babes!”

“Alright!” Sirius called back, packing things back into their holdall.

“Ooh, I like that shirt. Can I borrow next weekend?” Lily grinned and stuck her tongue out, stepping fully into the changing rooms.

“Pfft,  _ maybe _ .” 

Lily leaned against the door. “Did I see you talking to Marlene and, is it Dorcas?”

“Yep,” Sirius muttered, shouldering their bag. “And a ridiculously attractive friend of theirs I made an utter  _ fool _ of myself in front of.”

“Was it that bad?” 

“It was. I said  _ I saw you in the audience _ because I was so dumbstruck by his fucking dimples. Who does that?”

Lily snorted with laughter and tried to hide it with her hand. “You, apparently.”

Sirius shoved her arm as they walked back to the side of the stage. “Don’t. I’m going for drinks with them and think I might just spontaneously combust from all my blood being elsewhere.”

“I don’t wanna know!”

Sirius grinned and kissed Lily on the cheek, stepping into line with the other competitors. Most of them looked like they’d walked right out of Sports Illustrated, and here was Sirius in heels and a silk shirt. But damn, they looked  _ good _ , and none of the men gave them any trouble. Pole was, thankfully, pretty accepting.

Sirius spotted Marlene, Dorcas and Remus in the crowd as they walked on stage. They looked away quickly, trying not to stare like last time, and stood nervously whilst the organisers talked through judging criteria and amped up the crowd.

Someone else was called for Bronze and Sirius wasn’t sure if the flutter in their chest was excitement or disappointment. Then someone else for Silver, and they were sure it was disappointment but they were determined not to show it; not every competition could end in a medal. But then, somehow—

“And the winner of this year’s gold medal for the Men’s International Pole Competition is… Sirius Black!”

Sirius barely registered the applause as one of the others gently pushed them forward and they grinned as they shook hands and bent their head to have the medal looped around their neck. It was a bit surreal really. Sirius couldn’t resist one more glance out to the audience, and yep, there was Remus, smiling and clapping.

After the ceremony and seemingly endlessly congratulations, Sirius stepped out of the backstage area and went in search of the trio. They found them by a stall where Dorcas was fawning over some kind of ridiculous harness. Remus was stood a little way away, like he was scared of the amount of leather on show, hands in his jean pockets. Poor thing looked so out of his comfort zone.

Sirius was right, though, they did feel a lot better back in street clothes and not ambushed by Remus’ unreasonable attractiveness. Sirius let their gaze linger on Remus’ defined arms, bared by his sleeveless shirt.

“Hey.” Sirius gave a little wave to them. “Alright?”

“All right, yeah.” Remus glanced over to the girls. “I think we’ve lost them. Dorcas was on about this bloody thing since she saw it earlier.”

Sirius laughed. “I don’t think I wanna know…” They braced themselves for the look most people gave them when they saw them after a performance, a  _ this isn’t what I was expecting _ sort of look. But then, they supposed they’d done that to Remus by being awkward as fuck.

Remus laughed and shook his head, “No, you certainly do not want to know.” He smiled when his eyes turned to Sirius.

Oh, maybe not? Sirius glanced back to the girls. “So, you know where Marly is taking us tonight? Or are you just a passenger in this too? Last time she took us to…  _ karaoke _ .”

“Just karaoke? I’ve been dragged to some mad things. As usual, I’m just a passenger, though. I’m owed free drinks, so as long as there’s alcohol…”

“Free drinks? How did you manage that?”

As if she could sense being spoken about, Marlene appeared at their sides. “Yes! Ah, speaking of drinks, come on, let’s go!” She wound an arm around Dorcas’s waist and started off towards the exit. Dorcas was swinging a bag in her free hand and looked very pleased with herself.

“She never slows down, does she?” Sirius said, watching Marlene practically skip to the exit. They looked back to Remus, breath catching a little as they did. He was  _ so _ handsome. “Shall we?”

“Lead on,” Remus gestured in front of them. “And no, Marly does not slow down. I think she was born on full speed and it’s never been switched off.”

Sirius nodded, smiling, and started off after the girls, trying to ignore the idea that Remus was watching them walk.

Outside, Marlene informed them, with her boundless energy, that the bar was only a short walk from the convention centre and it would be far easier to walk than to try and get an Uber. Sirius relented, glad for the chance to stretch their legs after their performance.

Maybe because she realised they were awkward, Marlene peeled off and walked with Sirius whilst Dorcas chatted with Remus. They were sort of glad for it; trying to string a sentence together around Remus was near impossible when all he could think about was kissing the man. Marlene and Sirius chatted about work and the next pole class they were teaching, discussing lessons and theories.

They were a street or two away from the bar, according to Marlene, when Dorcas gasped loudly. “Sirius, Marly. You see where we are?” Sirius’ brow furrowed and Dorcas made an impatient noise. “This is where you filmed that street pole series for Insta! You have,  _ have _ to give Remus a rendition. Please?”

Oh, Dorcas was right—there were two street signs quite close to each other on the corner, and Sirius remembered being there a few months ago. Sirius looked at Marlene, who was already taking off her jacket and setting her bag down. She could never say no to her girlfriend apparently. “C’mon, Sirius, just to appease her.”   


Sirius laughed at Dorcas’ indignant expression and took off their own leather jacket, setting their bag down next to Marlene’s. “You’re lucky I love you, McKinnon. And you, I suppose, Dorcas,” Sirius said, moving to stand next to one pole. 

Marlene just blew them a kiss in reply. 

Their go-to street pole routine wasn’t  _ particularly _ difficult. The main risk was not face planting the pavement without so much skin for grip. But still, Sirius and Marlene were pretty good at their sport. A few Saturday night passersby paused to watch the duo as they swung and twisted in perfect sync through a short routine they both knew flawlessly. At the end, Sirius landed without so much of a wobble in their heels and smiled back at Dorcas and Remus. Remus had that same slack-jawed expression as he did when Sirius was crawling towards him on stage. Sirius quite liked it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter coming later today as well, friends! thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

When they got to the bar, Remus was still thinking about Sirius and Marlene’s impromptu performance on the street poles. Even in high heels and tight skinny jeans, Sirius was able to move around the pole as if it were nothing. They were astonishing, and Remus was sure that he could watch them perform all day. He wondered how Sirius made it look so easy when it wasn’t.

The group grabbed a table in the busy, somewhat trendy bar. Remus let Marlene know what he wanted for a drink before she and Sirius went up to order. This left Remus with Dorcas, who he could feel grinning at him when his eyes followed Sirius’ path to the bar. Even just walking, there was something so graceful about Sirius. The swing of their hips and the way they seemed to glide across the floor was unreal. Remus wanted to get to know them and understand how they got to be so amazing at what they did.

“They’re hot, huh?”

“Beautiful, they’re beautiful,” Remus mumbled, looking down at his nails which were bitten from anxiety. Sirius’ beauty was ethereal with their grey eyes and pale skin. “There’s no way that they could possibly be interested in me.”

“Ha, have you seen Sirius looking at you? Mate, they said that they were distracted by your dimples!” Dorcas said with a nudge to Remus. “What are you afraid of? I watched you dangle off a cliff with no gear outside of grip tape. Possibly going on a date with Sirius should not send you into fear.”

Those were two totally different things. His life was in his own hands on the cliff, and if he wanted to date anyone he would have to hand over his heart in order for that to happen. In past relationships, his sexuality became a sticking point for his partners. He was somewhere on the ace spectrum, never really able to pin down _ exactly _what he was or how he felt. His disinterest in having sex most of the time at first never bothered others, but then they’d get annoyed after Remus showed interest one day then wanted nothing to do with it the next how ever long. It was beyond frustrating. Having his heart broken wasn’t something he was interested.

Remus looked up from his nails with a long sigh. Dorcas was smiling at him somewhat sadly. “Let’s just enjoy our drinks, huh? We’re not dating or anything. It’s fine to just have a nice night out with friends.”

“You’ve been drooling over them all night, and now you’re suddenly wanting to put this space between them and you? You’re both interested, I can tell.” Dorcas frowned.

By the time Sirius and Marlene made their way back over to the table, Remus did his best to change his mood. He knew that he was getting hung up on Sirius the last few hours, so Remus needed to remember that they were going to be friends. That was all. He took a deep breath before Sirius came to him with a pint of beer in one hand and a tall glass with what looked like cranberry in vodka in the other.

“For you.” Sirius set the pint in front of Remus with a little smile. “Heard you like Camden Pale Ale.”

“Oh, ah thanks.” Remus furrowed his brow.

“You know,” Sirius said, sitting opposite Remus, “I always tell myself I like beer and every time I do, I hate it. Every single time, I never learn. Even with all the fancy craft beer flavours.”

“I guess it’s an acquired taste. I do that with wine.” Remus told them, then glanced over at Marlene who was drinking something large and pink with an umbrella sticking out of it and two cherries on top. “What the fuck? Can she not drink a normal drink?” He shook his head, but Marly was too busy giving Dorcas a sloppy kiss on the cheek for her to hear.

Sirius laughed at Remus’ comment, grinning ear to ear at Marlene’s ridiculous drink. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Marly do _ anything _ normal, drink or otherwise. She’s one of a kind.”

“Did you two meet through dance?” Remus asked because he had never heard of Sirius until now. He wasn’t sure why his friend kept them a secret.

“Ah, yeah, sort of.” Sirius sipped their drink. “I worked with her for a while, then went off travelling a year or so ago, thought I’d see some things, then decided to come back and really dig into the studio and campaigning. So I’m sort of new but old in town.”

“New, but old, I like that. Did you travel anywhere interesting?” He really hoped that he didn’t sound awkward with their small talk. The girls were too busy chatting quietly with one another on the other end of the table to save them.

“Define interesting.” Sirius shot him a grin. “Nah, I went to a few different states, down to see a friend who moved to Brazil last year… it was more of a ‘let’s catch up with everyone I used to hang out with’ rather than seeing the world, I guess. What about you? What do you do?”

“Brazil, that’s awesome! I’ve never been there, but I’d love to go,” Remus said before taking a sip of his beer. “I’m a rock climbing instructor at a local gym.”

“Well, if you ever end up in Brazil, I can recommend some sights.” Sirius nearly choked on his drink when Remus said about his job though. “Christ, a rock climbing instructor? Okay, okay. That’s… that sounds like something, tell me more! Is it all indoor climbing walls or are you out climbing cliffs and all that?”

“I do both!” Remus sat up straighter, finally able to talk about something he had knowledge of. “I teach at a local gym, but I go climbing cliffs, yeah. I love free climbing.”

“That’s amazing.” There was a brief pause where Sirius’ smile faded a little. “Wait, is that without anything saving your arse if you fall?”

Remus snorted a laugh, which made him make a face because of how unattractive the sound was. Not that he was trying to impress Sirius. “Well, yeah, sometimes. I mean, you can use ropes for safety but they can’t help you get up the rock. There are times I use the ropes and times I don’t.” He shrugged.

Sirius stared at him for a moment before puffing out their cheeks. “God, I thought I was a risk taker, nearly face planting on tarmac, but that’s next level.”

“Yeah, I’ve been called mad quite a few times,” Remus explained.

“You wouldn’t know that his other favorite hobby is spending the day in a jumper while reading some boring book,” Marlene interrupted their conversation for just a moment then turned back to Dorcas.

Sirius blinked a few times at Marlene’s intrusion before looking back to Remus with a smile. “Jumpers and books sound good too though. Who’s your favourite author?”

Remus glanced off to the side and mumbled, “Ah, Jane Austen.”

Sirius ducked their head, looking a little abashed. “Can’t say I’ve read much. Tend to steer clear of the classics…” They sipped their drink for a moment. “Kind of a sucker for ridiculously formulaic bodice-rippers though. They’re so stupid it’s comedy and romance all rolled together.”

They were full of surprises, it seemed. “That’s great. Reading should be enjoyable. I only read Austen because I love her, but there are plenty of classics I refused to touch. I can’t stand Dickens. I don’t care what anyone says.”

“The only Dickens I know is the Muppets Christmas Carol, and I don’t think that counts,” Sirius said around a laugh. 

“No, no, it totally counts. Did you know it’s one of the more accurate portrayals of the book? I read an article about it last Christmas.”

Sirius looked at him. “You’ve _ seen _ the Muppets Christmas Carol though, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay good, else I was gonna have to march you back to my flat and make you watch it, even though it’s August.”

Remus bit his lip, trying not to grin so wide. This was horrible. The more he talked to Sirius, the more he wanted to get to know them. 

Sirius seemed to notice the slight pause. They glanced to the girls, then back to Remus, leaning a fraction closer. “Unless you want to come back to my flat anyway?”

Remus sputtered, this was exactly what Remus was worried about. They probably just wanted to shag him. Why was that the first thing everyone wanted to do after only a bit of flirting and a nice chat? But of course Sirius would want that, right? They didn’t seem to have a problem with being sexual on stage in front of everyone. Remus shouldn’t have been surprised with the advance. “Ah, I think I need to use the loo.” He wanted to step back for a moment.


	6. Chapter 6

“Oh, sure…” Sirius said quietly, watching Remus push his chair back from the table and stand.

_ Shit. _ They’d said the wrong thing, put their bloody foot in it again. They  _ thought _ they’d read the signs right, thought Remus was flirting and maybe they  _ could _ go back to their place and maybe they could just chat without the bar music and maybe kiss a bit. Perhaps they’d come on a bit strong but God, Remus was just attractive. So help Sirius when faced with a gorgeous man with biceps like  _ that _ . 

Sirius watched, miserable, as Remus threaded through the crowd to the bathrooms. They finished the rest of their drink and set their chin on their palm. Of course Remus didn’t want that. Sirius was weird and wrong. No one ever felt comfortable around them when  _ they _ felt comfortable. Of course Remus was put off by the heels and the feminine clothing and, probably, the rolling around on the floor on stage. Their past boyfriend had hated Sirius doing pole and tried to stop them from doing it because he didn’t like the idea of Sirius being half-naked on stage. He got kicked to the kerb pretty sharply. 

He thought, for a moment, by the way Remus had smiled at their appearance in the convention centre, that the man would be okay with how they looked. Perhaps even  _ like _ the way Sirius looked and be excited and encouraged by having a partner who was brave and happy enough to step out of societal norms. But no, that wasn’t happening.

With a sharp sigh, Sirius tried to cut themselves short on an internal rant about the inherently gendered nature of society and slid from the booth seat. “Another drink, you two?” they gestured with their empty glass to catch Marlene and Dorcas’ attention. 

Marlene seemed surprised by Remus’ absence and tried to waggle her eyebrows and get Sirius to disclose something with a facial expression but Sirius didn’t bite.

Dorcas glanced at her girlfriend before rolling her eyes. “Yeah, please Sirius. A cider for me and a… what the fuck is that called, Marly?”

Marlene gave up on her facial sign language and sighed. “A Tropical Sunset, please love.”

“Coming right up,” Sirius said, trying to hide their disappointment. 

By the time they returned to the table from the bar, with a tray of drinks, including another beer for Remus, the man himself was back at the table, talking to Dorcas. Wordlessly, Sirius slid the second pint along to Remus and shot him a tight, sort of apologetic smile, not wanting to interrupt the considerably less awkward conversation he must be having with Dorcas.

Marlene leant over to retrieve her lurid drink and scooted her chair closer to Sirius. “What’s going on?”

Sirius shrugged a shoulder and took a drink. “Nothing. Just… read some signs wrong is all. Don’t worry about it Marly.” They sipped their drink. “So, listen, are you gonna propose to Dorky soon? Or will I never get to be your Maid of Honour?”

Marlene sputtered around her ridiculous umbrella. She peered at Sirius, then her eyes flickered to Dorcas, and back again. “Who the fuck told you?”

Sirius was baffled for a moment. “Oh  _ shit _ , I was just fucking  _ joking _ , Marlene, Christ!”

Fucking hell! All they’d wanted was a distraction from the shit show of their love life, not to end up stumbling on a potentially life-changing fact! Of  _ course _ Marlene was planning to propose to Dorcas; it was probably going to be something over the top and absurd. Oh God, it would be a flash mob. Sirius could see it now. They would probably have to choreograph it, too.

“Shh!” Marlene smacked Sirius on the arm. “I swear to all the gods in existence Sirius, if you spill this I will kill you.”

“I won’t, I won’t! Jesus, you’re terrifying. Don’t kill me, my lips are sealed.” Sirius sipped their drink. “I’m real happy for you though Marly. Really.”   


Marlene threw her arm around Sirius’ shoulders. “Thank you.” She pressed a kiss to Sirius’ cheek before sighing softly. “Now, let’s get you a boyfriend.”

“Marlene.” Sirius rolled their eyes. “Can we not, just for a minute?”

“Remus really fancies you though, Dorcas said so. Said he was gawping at you big time during your performance.”

“Everyone  _ gawps _ during my performances, Marlene, that’s what they are. It’s all eye-fucking because I’m femme enough to be  _ pretty _ but still masc enough to be a ‘man’. No one wants whatever genderfuck mess  _ this _ _ — _ ” Sirius gestured to themselves — “is.”

“Oh, no, love, that’s not right at all,” Marlene said, uncharacteristically soft. “You’re wonderful and perfect just how you are,  _ because _ you’re how you are. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t fuck with all the straighties.” She set her drink down and her eyes flickered towards Remus and Dorcas. “Did he say something funny? Because I can tell him off if you need me to.”

“No, no.” Sirius couldn’t help smiling at Marlene’s tenacity. “I just came on too strong, is all, probably freaked him out. It’s okay.” They drank some of their drink. “It’s  _ fine _ , really. Shall we dance?”

That was one surefire way to distract Marlene--offer dancing. Placated for the time being, Marlene stood and pulled Sirius up with her, saying something offhandedly to Dorcas before weaving through to a sort of makeshift dance floor clearing within sight of their table. Thankfully, Marlene didn’t like to  _ talk _ when she danced — it was the  _ only _ time, as far as Sirius could tell — so they danced without facing an interrogation and tried not to stare across the way at Remus.


	7. Chapter 7

When Remus returned to their table, the whole atmosphere changed between he and Sirius. They had been nice and light before that. It was going so well, then Remus had to freak out at the prospect of Sirius trying to get Remus to come back to their flat. They were kind enough to bring another beer back for Remus after their trip to the bar. Maybe Sirius realized what they said wasn’t great, but that didn’t fix the thoughts that were swirling around in his head.

Sirius and Remus didn’t speak at all, and Remus couldn’t help but hear his name in Marlene and Sirius’ whispered conversation. Between the two friends keeping their voices low, and the loud music in the bar, Remus couldn’t make out the rest of what they were saying. Why couldn’t he be normal? Why couldn’t he go and shag Sirius like anyone else would want to? He should have felt lucky that Sirius was giving him the time of day. Even thinking about sleeping with Sirius right now made his stomach turn to knots.

Eventually, Marlene pulled Sirius off to the dance floor with her. How come Sirius could look so carefree and beautiful in the middle of a little dance floor? Remus watched as they spun Marlene around with a laugh. The tension Sirius had been holding in their shoulders when they sat at the table seemed to have disappeared as soon as they started to move to the music. Sirius looked completely at home moving to the music with a little smile on their face. Remus wondered if that was how he looked when he was climbing. 

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Dorcas’ brow was pinched in concerned.

Remus tore his eyes away from the dance floor to stare at the bottom of his glass. He didn’t want to look at Dorcas in the eye because she was probably looking at him as if he were crazy. “It’s nothing, Dorky, don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried about it because you were hitting it off, and then suddenly you were gone, and Sirius looked like they were a sad puppy dog. Then when you came back to the table, it looked like someone stole your favorite book or whatever.”

He let out a long breath through his nose as he tapped his fingers on the glass. “They invited me back to their flat.”

“For… sex?”

“Why else would they want me to come back? I doubt it’s to look at their record collection.” Remus ran his index finger against the condensation on his glass, making a line down it to the base.

Dorcas laughed. “They have a fucking amazing record collection. You could have told them you weren’t interested in shagging them tonight. Did you try doing that, or did you just panic and put space between you two?”

Remus sent Dorcas a look because she knew him too well. It took him years to figure out his sexuality, and he still couldn’t properly explain it. He didn’t want to try to have that conversation on a night out. Sirius would have probably rejected him anyway once they learned about him being grey-ace or demi or whatever the hell label actual worked for him.

“You’re never going to date anyone, if you avoid the subject. I’ve seen you all but drooling over them today. Come on, Moony, you should at least give them a chance.”

“To break my heart? No thank you.” He waved a hand before picking up his beer to take another drink.

“Don’t you want to be in love? Last time we got drunk, you waxed poetic about what love must feel like. You want to be in a relationship, just take the leap.”

Remus worried at his lip because he had nothing good to say to Dorcas. His eyes shifted over to the dancefloor to see Marlene wrapping her arms around Sirius’s waist. They both were laughing about something they found funny. He wished that he could have been the one that Sirius was holding close and laughing with. If he could have been able to joke off the pick up line earlier, maybe that could have been him. But wouldn’t Remus have been leading Sirius on if he did that?

Letting Marlene and Dorcas drag him out always led him into some type of disaster, big or small. Next time they wanted to go do something, he wasn’t going to go. Remus drained his beer then went to stand up. “I think it’s time I head home, Dorcas.”

Dorcas’ face fell. “No, Moony, come on and have one more. I don’t want you to go home sad.”

“I’ll be fine.” He looked back to the floor to find Sirius frowning over at him.

“How about dance with me, please?” She stood up, reaching a hand out. “Only a couple of songs.”

With a huff, Remus took her hand and began to walk to the dancefloor. He wanted to tell her that he was going home, but he always had a hard time with letting people down. Remus wasn’t a pushover, but he tended to be a people pleaser even though he hated most people. What made it worse was that he didn’t hate Dorcas and Marlene, he loved them both to pieces. So, Remus put on his best face and begrudgingly let Dorcas stop in a spot close to Marlene and Sirius.

To make things worse, Remus was not exactly the biggest dancer. His tall frame and long limbs always made him feel awkward nearly everywhere outside of climbing. His height was usually an advantage on a course, but on the dance floor he was a danger. Dorcas took his hands and tried her best to get him to relax a little as he moved his hips. Surely, Sirius was going to go home laughing about him later. They were probably thrilled that Remus didn’t want to go home with them.

The music was a terrible mash up of cheesy 80’s dance tunes. As Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody morphed to Don’t You Want Me by Human League, Marlene danced her way right into Dorcas’ arms. With her came Sirius, who rolled their eyes at the public display of affection the women were currently entangled in on the floor. Remus marveled at their relationship because they were over each other all the time from day one. It was mind blowing to him.

Remus was thankful that Sirius stayed an arms length away. They offered Remus a tight smile as they awkwardly danced near one another. It was like being at a dance when he was a young teenager, unsure of what to do with the other person. Granted, he was still unsure of what to do with the other person. At least Sirius seemed to respect that Remus wanted to keep the distance because he worried Sirius was going to pull him close to dance in the way that Dorcas and Marlene were dancing. The girls were pressed against one another swaying their hips and singing obnoxiously.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long time on the dance floor, Marlene decided that it was time to head out. Remus ignored the comment about how she wanted to put the new harness to good use. They went to gather the coats and bags that had been left at their table before heading out of the bar. Remus thought he was home free, and never going to have to see Sirius again until Marlene opened her large freaking mouth.

“Oh! You two need to exchange numbers!” She snapped her fingers at them.

Remus ran a hand through his curls and shrugged. Sirius looked to be biting their cheek.

“Yes! Exchange them.” Dorcas shot him a look

If they exchanged numbers, he didn’t need to actually text. 

Sirius looked between the girls before leaning over, retrieving their phone from their pocket. “Just swap numbers, else Marly _ will not _ let us leave, and I don’t think you want that.”

“Right, sure.” Remus reached for his phone then handed it to Sirius.

They quickly swapped phones to put their numbers in, and then after they finally said their goodbyes. Marlene gave each of them a big hug and kiss before grabbing Dorcas’ hand to drag her home. With one last little smile, Sirius went the opposite direction Remus needed to go, thankfully, leaving Remus to go home alone.


	8. Chapter 8

The following Saturday Sirius turned up at Marlene and Dorcas’ flat clutching a tote bag full of various cocktail ingredients. The most troublesome of which was the packet of ridiculous umbrellas they’d had to traipse across town to find. With a weary sigh Sirius upended the bag onto the kitchen counter.

“Marly! I had to try four fucking Tesco’s for these umbrellas. Have you ordered Thai food yet? Else I’m gonna just cry.” 

Marlene came out of the bedroom in a neon green unitard with offensively high-cut legs. Somehow, she looked great in it. Without missing a beat, Sirius continued unpacking the bag. “Practising the Olivia Newton-John routine again?”

Marlene bounced over and stole a glacé cherry from the pot Sirius just placed down. “You’re the only person I can appear to in full disgusting 80’s regalia, and you don’t bat an eyelid, you know that?”

Sirius raised an eyebrow as they pushed up the fluted sleeves of their dress. “If I was surprised by every one of your antics I wouldn’t have any energy for anything else, Marlene. I have to take it in my stride else I’d be falling over all the time.”

Marlene nodded sagely and started measuring out brightly coloured spirits into a pitcher. “True.” She ate another cherry and nudged her hip into Sirius’. “Food is on order, shouldn’t be long.”

“Where’s Dorcas?”

“Out with the PureFit gang. It’s someone’s leaving party I think?” Marlene poured them both a tall glass of something bright yellow--how the hell was it that colour?--and gleefully popped an umbrella, a neon green stirrer and a curly straw in each. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Sirius said, begrudgingly picking up their glass.

“You love me.”

“Unfortunately.” 

They settled on the sofa and chatted idly until their Thai food came, then sprawled back on the sofa and chatted some more around mouthfuls of delicious food. Marlene had her phone in one hand as Sirius rested their head on her shoulder. Dorcas’ Instagram Stories was on the screen and Sirius glanced over — wary, they’d seen some unwanted things on Marlene’s phone in the past — to see Dorcas and a few other smiling faces on the screen.

There was one face Sirius recognised instantly, too. Remus. Damn, and he looked so handsome, smiling with Dorcas and the others and Sirius felt a pang of longing. The wistful sigh was meant to be in their head, but it came out of their mouth because Marlene wiggled her shoulder.

“What’s that sigh for?” She said, but Sirius thought she would probably already know.

Sirius mumbled something noncommittal and shoved a spiced cracker in their mouth instead of answering. Marlene waited impatiently and wiggled her shoulder again to dislodge Sirius’ head. “I dunno… Just thinking of Remus.”

“Did you text him?”

Sirius snorted. “He couldn’t get out of there quick enough, Marly. I’m not about to put myself out there to get ignored.”

Marlene tilted her head to look at Sirius. “Says the person who puts themselves out there on a daily basis throwing themselves around a stage in tiny shorts.”

“That’s different, smart-arse. I don’t get my heart involved when I’m on stage.”  _ Unless I’m looking at Remus in the audience, apparently,  _ Sirius thought.

“Text him.”

“What’s he like?”

“You  _ know _ what he’s like, you spent last Saturday with him.”

“We talked for a while and then danced at an awkward arms length from each other.” Sirius sighed. “He was so ridiculously cute dancing, all gangly and awkward.” They shook themselves out of it and prodded Marlene in the thigh with a chopstick. “What’s he like? What kinda gay is he?”

Marlene gave them a flat stare. “What kind of gay?”

“Yeah.” Sirius grinned. “Like, are they one of those gatekeeping gay men who only like manly men and leather and  _ men _ and  _ manliness  _ and freak out when I turn up femme at the bar — ” perhaps Marlene’s cocktails were a little strong — “or are they nice and open and understanding and compliment my dress… aka, was I being overdramatic on Saturday thinking he wouldn’t like me because I’m fluid?”

“You? Overdramatic?” Marlene chuckled to herself for a moment, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of broccoli. “I don’t think Remus is like that at all. He’s pretty accepting, I’ve always heard him talk really… thoughtfully about everything, and he did respect your pronouns last weekend and I know that’s not the be-all and end-all, but I think he’s into you.” When Sirius huffed and went to open their mouth to argue back that Remus wanted to get the hell away from them pretty quickly, Marlene spoke over them. “And besides, he talked to Dorcas on Saturday and he thought that  _ he’d _ fucked it up too. So both of you are just being dramatic and awkward.”

Sirius hummed. How did Remus think he had fucked it up? Remus did nothing? All he’d done was rebuked Sirius’ quite-strong come on, and whilst Sirius was weak for the man’s biceps they knew now that they’d stepped over the line. Sirius wanted to make sure Remus didn’t think he had been the one to make the mistake, they didn’t like the idea of Remus feeling bad for Sirius’ fuck up.

“So text him. I bet Dorcas is having this exact same talk with Remus right now, because you’re both crushing hard and I think it would be  _ cute _ for us to go on double dates so I need you to buck up, alright?” Marlene grinned and shoved lightly at Sirius’ shoulder. “Text him.”

Sirius snatched their phone from the arm of the sofa and opened Remus’ contact, pausing at the keyboard. “What am I meant to say? Hi, it’s the pole dancer from last weekend who came onto you, how you doin’?”

“Oh for god’s sake. Are you actually fourteen? Just say hi. You won’t need to introduce yourself again. I guarantee he’ll remember you, Sirius, you’re impossible to forget, especially with that routine. Dorcas said his jaw was on the floor, you don’t forget something like that.”

Sirius ate another spiced cracker, and after a long moment of staring at their phone screen, typed out a quick message.

_ Hi, Remus. How are you?  _


	9. Chapter 9

Remus nearly dropped his phone to the ground when a text alert from Sirius had popped up. It had been a week since the horrendously awkward night at the bar with Marlene and Dorcas. To say that Sirius hadn’t crossed his mind in that time would have been an outright lie. Remus had watched every single YouTube video of Sirius. All of their routines were gorgeous. Not to mention Remus scrolled through all of Sirius’ Insta (carefully, so he didn’t accidentally double tap something from ages ago).

At what point was one considered a stalker because Remus worried that he was too close to the line? Every time Remus thought about the night at the bar, he cringed. He hated that he was so quick to turn down Sirius without even giving them a chance to fix their mistake. So, they came on strong, but maybe they were joking or they could have even realized their mistake if it wasn’t a joke.

None of that mattered because Remus didn’t want to know how Sirius would react to his sexuality. They seemed so sure of who they were, and Remus felt clueless about certain parts of himself. How could he get what he wanted if he wasn’t able to express himself properly?

“Moony, you okay?” Dorcas asked him after turning away from a conversation with Gideon.

“Yeah — no, Sirius texted me.”

A smile blossomed across Dorcas coral painted lips. “That’s exciting!”

Remus looked down at his screen. “I’m not sure about that.”

“Come on, you two were hitting it off last week at the start. Have you thought about them at all this week?”

As casually as possibly Remus said, “A bit.”

“That’s Lupin-speak for a shite ton,” Dorcas translated for herself. “There’s no harm in telling them about your sexuality. If you’re up front about it, they can make the choice themselves. The more you sit and stew about it, the worse you’ll feel.” Dorcas tapped his phone. “Text them.”

Remus picked his glass up from the bartop to take a long drink. He needed some liquid courage if he was going to finally chat with Sirius. “If this all goes south, I’m going to kill you.”

“You’d never. Plus, Moony, not every relationship is going to go south.”

She made a very good point. The probability of something working out properly for him in the department had to be somewhat high.

With some tiny sliver of hope, Remus unlocked his phone and texted Sirius back.

**Hi, I’m all right. What about you?**


	10. Chapter 10

_ Good, yeah. Relaxing after traipsing around trying to find cocktail umbrellas for Marlene haha _

**Christ. Really?**

😂  _ yep. Unfortunately she is a demanding princess. But alas, I found them and now I have drank one of her disgusting cocktails. She might be converting me to them. _

**No, she can’t drag you into that. Dangerous!**

**One time I drank some bright green thing she made and had THE WORST headache the next day.**

_ Omg, you’ve had the green one?! That’s brave. I’m not that brave. This one is yellow and has cherries on a stick like it’s 1973 and we’re on a cruise. _

_ Actually, I’m looking at it now and feeling a little queasy… Maybe I’ll move onto something else. _

**That’s probably a very good idea. I’m sticking to beer personally.**

**I’m not going to be adventurous tonight when it comes to drinking.**

_ Oh? Are you out drinking?  _

**Yeah, I’m with Dorky and some of the PureFit people. You and Marly up to anything good aside drinking her insane drinks?**

_ Define good. She’ll probably end up making me rewatch Step Up.  _

_ Only the first one if I’m lucky.  _

_ She’s also bugging me to send you a selfie  _

_ But I’ve been at work all day so that won’t happen. _

**I can say I’ve never watched Step Up. She has made me watch Center Stage, but I enjoyed that.**

**I’m sure that you look just fine even though you’ve been working all day.**

_ Hahah. That’s sweet of you. _

**How was your day at work?**

_ It was good! Saturday’s are fun, we have younger ballet and gymnastics and aerial classes, and the kids are always great to teach.  _

_ What about you? Were you out climbing cliff faces today?  _ 👀

**That’s fun that you get to teach the younger kids. I teach some pre-teen groups. They’re hilarious.**

**Today I was not out climbing cliff faces, sadly. I was supposed to but it was raining most of the day. Instead it was a day to stay in and read.**

**The whole jumpers and Austen thing ** **🙄**

_ Ah yes, jumpers and Austen. The cons of the studio is I have no clue of the weather. Sorry you didn’t get to go out and be reckless up a mountain though. _

**It’s okay, I like some quiet time from time to time that doesn’t involve hanging somewhere by the tips of my fingers.**

_ … Fair.  _

_ I can only imagine said poor fingers would enjoy the break too. _

**Yes, the hands do appreciate a day to hold books not rocks 🤚**

**Sure your body likes days off too from twisting about and such.**

_ I wouldn’t know? Hahah. 24/7 Pole 4 Lyf. _

_ That was awful i apologise. Don’t know what came over me. _

**😂😂😂😂😂😂**

**I’m actually cackling at the bar. I’m being given strange looks**

**Dorcas says that Marly told her she wanted a tattoo with Pole 4 Lyf once.**

**I’m dead.**

😂😂😂  _ RIP Remus. I shall get a Pole 4 Lyf tattoo in memorial. _

**It is how I always wanted to be memorialized. **

**Make sure Dorky gives me a proper eulogy.**

_ We’ll hold the ceremony at the top of a cliff. Mourners will have to climb up to attend. _

_ If I knew more about climbing I’d make some more analogies.. but…  _ 🤷🏻♂️ 

**I can forgive you. I can’t make my Pole analogies either so…**

_ You’re missing out. We’re a community rife with innuendo and double entendre. _

**Damn. I am missing out. Though, we do have some good ones**

**It’s been said many times to spread your legs and trust the rubber for instance.**

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

_ I’m dead. I just spat my drink everywhere. Marly is laughing at me. That’s my motto now oh my god. I need it on a shirt right now. _

_ Tell me there’s rock climbing merch with that on. _

**I haven’t seen it, but we’ll make you shirt.**

_ Please _ .

**Do you know why rock climbing is better than sex?**

_ …. No. but oh my god please continue. _

**The rock is always hard 😏**

**😂😂😂😂😂😂😂**

_ Is that a joke from experience? _


	11. Chapter 11

Sirius woke up the next morning in Marlene’s spare bedroom with their face pressed into the pillow. Oh god, they’d drank too many awful cocktails after Remus had stopped replying. Marlene had said it was just because he was out with Dorcas and Dorcas had probably taken the group to karaoke or something.

Privately, Sirius thought they had just put their foot in it again. They didn’t get it. Remus would be flirting along, they thought, bringing up sex jokes and such, and then shut down entirely. True, Sirius didn’t really know when to stop, they could be very over the top, but they didn’t understand the reason the man seemed to just stop in his tracks.

Sirius dragged themselves out of bed and went to put coffee on. Marlene and Dorcas were already out running or working out or doing some despicable when they should, by all rights, be hungover. 

Still nothing from Remus. Sirius hovered their thumb over the messages, wondering whether they should say something. Marlene was right. They could put themselves out there on stage and be brash and bold in big public spaces, but one-to-one Sirius was still nervous the man wouldn’t accept them as they were. Taking a deep breath, Sirius tapped out a quick message.

_ How’s your head this morning? _

**Not so bad. How about you? Did Marly kill you with the drink?**

_ There’s a 70% chance I’m actually dead and haven’t realised it yet. And somehow, she is out running or some shit with Dorky. I stg they are not human. _

**I’m texting with a ghost. Awesome.**

**And ofc they’re out running. They’re probably posting some fit couple shite on their stories right now.**

_ Probably! _

_ Hey. Look. I’m pre-coffee right now so I might regret this, but did I do something last night? _

**No, not at all…**

**I was the one that made the jokes then I panicked because I’m an idiot.**

_ I just… _

_ Thought I was reading the signs right and then thought not. It’s cool though. You’re not an idiot. _

**You didn’t do a thing wrong.**

**It was all me.**

**I’m ace… grey-ace… maybe demi… or something. It’s complicated and I hate trying to explain it. Most people don’t get it.**

_ Oh. Shit. That makes sense. _

_ Oh fuck no wait, that came out wrong. _

_ I mean. Fuck. I mean I made stupid come-ons and no wonder you felt awful. I’m sorry I was insensitive. _

**No, you don’t have to apologize or anything.**

**I flirted with you and you were reading the signals.**

**I don’t normally go on dates or whatever because in the past my partners never got it. Sometimes I don’t really get it so…**

_ Ooookay… ignoring the fact you said you were flirting with me just let me freak out about that later. I get it though. _

_ I mean, I feel that way about my gender. Most of the time *I* don’t get it, and trying to get someone else to get it is impossible. Most of the time I’m just somewhere in no man’s land….. …. Excuse the pun I guess. So i get it. _

**It would be so much easier if I just felt the way it seems everyone else does about sex.**

**I feel like I lead people on when I flirt with them. Like I did to you last night and probably last week.**

_ Maybe. But. Flirting doesn’t automatically give someone the right to sex. Especially if they know about your sexuality. Sometimes flirting is just nice to flirt… yanno, without the expectation. _

_ Ik sometimes I feel like I’ve lead someone on when I’ve had a particularly masc day when I first meet them and then next time I see them I’m wearing a dress (even if it’s a pretty one). But… jesus I need more coffee for this but I’m trying to say you can just be you. _

_ With me, especially. I don’t care about you being ace. _

_ That sounded presumptuous. I mean. I’m okay with it. Yknow. It’s not a problem for us talking. Or. Whatever. _

**Jesus. How do you say all the right things?**

**It’s somewhat unfair.**

**I wouldn’t feel led on if you were having a masc day one day then wore a dress the next. Honestly, I’m sure you look nice in whatever you wear.**

_ That’s good. I have some good dresses so you’d be missing out otherwise. _ 😉

_ Oh ffs, see I just do flirty emojis automatically. I’m sorry. They are pretty dresses though, see? _

_ image.jpg _

_ Dress makes up for my hungover face _😂

**You don’t look hungover and it is a lovely dress.**

**Also, please continue to use flirty emojis.**

**I don’t mind, especially know that you know.**

_ Good, because I like flirting with you _.

_ And, honestly. I wouldn’t feel led on if you… I dunno, however you feel. Some days I feel so dysphoric I don’t want to even hold hands so, I get it. Like. God am I making it worse? _😂

**I like flirting with you too.**

**And no, you’re not making it worse. I don’t usually have conversations like this and (don’t tell Dorky) it feels good to be open with someone.**

_ I’m honoured, then. Your secret is safe from Dorky and Marly with me. _

**That’s good. I don’t fancy having to ignore you again.**

**You’d miss out on rock climbing jokes.**

😂😂😂 _ I definitely wouldn’t want that. Marly was so mad I choked on my drink and nearly upended a whole container of pad thai all over the floor with my flailing. _

😂😂😂😂😂😂

**I’m glad that you didn’t spill the drink everywhere or it would have stained everything.**

_ Well listen, if we’re doing secrets. I think a bit of it got on the carpet, but I don’t think Marly has noticed. And if she does I’ll just… flee to another country or something. _

**Oh, where are we going if we flee?**

_ Oh. Maybe somewhere warm? Barbados? _

_ No! Brazil!! You wanted to go, didn’t you? _

**Excellent! At least we have a back up plan if she finds out.**

**Do you have to work today?**

_Yeah _:( _Got a meeting with this lbgt charity. Sort of work but it’s the good kind, yknow?_ _Wbu?_

**That’s cool!**

**I have no plans. It’s Sunday, so I’m going to spend the day doing errands… so I guess that is a plan.**

**Just not a fun one.**

_ Productive though I guess? Reward yourself after with some Austen in a jumper. _

_ You wearing the jumper. Not Austen. I suppose. _

**I just might do that… I’m not actually reading Austen right now. I’m reading Red, White, and Royal Blue.**

_ Oh, I think I’ve heard of that? My friend was going mad for it. Is it any good? _

**It’s really funny! I’m about half-way through, but I would suggest it. Your friend has good taste.**

_ Ahh, I’ll have to borrow it from her after she’s done with it. _

**Good, then we can gush about it together. I tried to get Dorko to read it, but she only reads self-help shite and books about exercise 🙄**

_ Marly is the same _😂

_ Okay. I have to go jump in the shower. I’m not ignoring you x _

**I wouldn’t think you were. Talk to you later 💛**

  



	12. Chapter 12

For the fourth day in a row, Remus woke up to a text message from Sirius. He really thought that he fucked everything up on Saturday night when he made a few jokes about sex and flirted, but Sirius reached out Sunday morning after a night of radio silence. Hearing them talk about their own feelings in regards to their gender made Remus far more comfortable to talk about his sexuality. They even assured Remus that they wouldn’t feel led on if Remus flirted. 

Oh, and flirt they did. From Sunday on, they were both flirting endlessly. They also talked too, and Remus found out more about who Sirius was. On the lighter side, Sirius had a very soft spot for 80’s hair metal even though they knew that it wasn’t _ good _. Tragically Sirius liked pineapple on their pizza, this led to a very large disagreement between them and Remus. Remus decided they would have to order separate pizzas if they ever went for pizza. On a more serious note, they and their friend Lily, who was trans, were working on a project highlighting the problematic binary gender not only in pole, but in dance over all.

Sirius was funny and insightful. Remus looked forward to checking his phone whenever he had a chance because he constantly wanted to talk to them. It seemed that Sirius felt the same way about him. Even though Remus felt good with Sirius, he was still a little worried to put himself out there. But since he started being open with Sirius, things have worked out well so far. Maybe he could keep going.

Remus opened his phone and replied back to Sirius’ good morning text.

**Good morning to you too 💖 How’s your morning going so far?**

_ I’ve been up since 5 _ 😭 _ Marly burst in and dragged me out to the studio to work on some choreography. _

_ My text didn’t wake you, did it? _

**She’s insane. God. 5???**

**No, your text didn’t wake me. I sleep like the dead.**

**Outside of being awake since 5 is all going well?**

_ Going good. Getting lots done I suppose. Advanced classes this morning. _

_ What about you? How are you doing? _

**Productivity is good.**

**I have a couple of private sessions starting at 11. Then I need to supervise the free climb this evening.**

**Not my favorite thing to do because someone always does something daft.**

🙄🙄🙄🙄

_ Idiots, idiots everywhere. _

_ Speaking of, owner of the gym in our complex just came in and he’s a dick. Never been called sir more in my life. Wish me luck. _💙

🤬 **Want me to come kick his arse? Or we could come up with some creative prank.**

_ Oh please come and kick his arse. Come defend my honour, Remus. *swoons* _

**I got you 💪🏻**

**I always wanted to be a knight in shining armor. Though, I’m shite at riding a horse… and I don’t think that the armor would be helpful in the arse kicking.**

_ You’re fine how you are. No armour or horse needed x _

**Great, tell me when and where, and I’ll come defend your honour.**

_ Phew. Okay.... _

_ That didn’t go awfully. Only misgendered like, five times instead of a million. Mainly because Marly was stood there looking like she was about to rip him into pieces. _

_ How’s your day going? Ah, I bet you’re in a private session rn. _

**All right. I’ll save the arse kicking for another day. Though, Marly would probably beat me to it.**

**I just got out of the session. It went well, and now I have a few minutes to have a snack. Don’t tell Marly I’m getting something salty and full of fat from the vending machine.**

😱😱😱😱 

_ You rebel. I’ll keep quiet. _

_ So when do I get to come see you climbing things? _

**You’re free to come by whenever. You know Marly does. **🙄

_ Ugh, you get to see the two of them necking too? I’m so sorry. _🤢

**It’s nice to finally have someone who understands my pain 😭**

_ We were walking to the cafe earlier, Marly made me pose since “the light is so pretty here Sirius”. So I feel the pain. _

**😍 I love your outfit. That bag is great.**

_ Thank you _😘 🦄

**Sadly, I have to go back to work. I’ll talk to you later 💖**

**💙**

  



	13. Chapter 13

Sirius had to admit they were a little nervous as they and Marlene walked around the corner towards the PureFit gym where Dorcas and Remus worked. The only time they’d met Remus in person was that disastrous Saturday night, and they didn’t want a repeat of that. Although, they and Remus had been talking every day since their Sunday morning revelations to each other. There was a good morning text from whoever woke up first, and they kept up the chat all day between classes and other work, right until they fell asleep some nights. 

Remus was  _ absolutely _ flirting. Sirius was sure they weren’t reading too much into it now. There were emojis and offers to come be a knight in shining armour (please), and the swapping of stories and anecdotes. It was really nice to get to know Remus properly. The man liked to walk everywhere and hated public transport. He played piano — Sirius had to play it cool with that one. The best was that Remus had a scar on his foot shaped like a smiley face, yet he had  _ no _ idea how it got there. Sirius demanded photo evidence for that one, and it did indeed look like a smiley face.

Sirius felt like Remus was the person they talked to the most, even more than James or Marlene some days. So it would be nice to see him in person. Sirius hoped their flirting banter would translate well. They hadn’t actually  _ told _ Remus they were coming to visit with Marlene — who found any excuse to see Dorcas she could — and thought they might just surprise him. 

“C’mon, the climbing arena is through here,” Marlene said, taking Sirius’ hand and leading them through a few sets of double doors. The climbing area was fairly big, with climbing walls on three sides and a sort of fake rock face in the middle, presumably for some more realistic climbing than brightly coloured bits of plastic.

Marlene pissed off immediately to go and find Dorcas, so Sirius was left scanning the room to look for Remus. The room was pretty empty, so it was easy to spot his curly hair. As Sirius made their way over they realised Remus was climbing without ropes, with just his grip to keep him up, and he was at least 30ft up. Sirius sat on a small bench in the middle of the area and watched the man.

He made it look easy. Remus moved in a way that Sirius didn’t really think was possible, reaching for certain ledges or handholds, or holding his entire weight on one hand whilst he reached for something else. At one point he made a jump and caught himself on a ledge Sirius couldn’t even see from that far away. He swung there for a moment before twisting and reaching for another tiny little hold. The idea of Remus falling from that high up made Sirius’ heart drop, but the man caught himself and made it look so easy.

And he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Boy, was Sirius glad for that. The way the muscles in his back moved as he reached for a handhold or pushed himself up was art, really. Sirius  _ tried _ not to stare like an idiot, but Remus was gorgeous. The way he moved was so powerful. He looked so comfortable up there, occasionally glancing down to look for something, like this was his domain. Sirius wondered if they had that same kind of look when they were on the pole.

Sirius would’ve been quite content to sit there and watch the man for a while, but Marlene’s whistle echoed across the room. “Oi, Lupin!” Remus looked across at her. She must’ve motioned to Sirius or something, because then Remus turned and saw Sirius sitting there, just watching him.

Sirius grinned and waved up at the man in greeting, a little embarrassed to be caught staring.

Remus made his way down the climbing wall quite quickly and every time he moved Sirius found their breath catching in case he slipped. With his feet back on solid ground, Remus dusted his hands on his shorts and made his way over to Sirius. He looked a little out of breath and vaguely sweaty and Sirius suddenly thought it was a wonderful idea to come with Marlene.

“Hi,” Sirius said as Remus drew closer.

“I didn’t realize that you were coming.” Remus picked up the shirt that had on the ground near the wall.

Sirius shrugged. “Thought I’d come surprise you.” They nodded towards the wall. “You make that look easy.”

“Ha, well, you make Pole look easy.” Remus gave a shy sort of smile. “I’m glad for the surprise. How was the rest of your day?”

“It was good. Had some time to myself to work on a few new things this afternoon. Finally got to grips with a move I’ve been battling with.” Sirius tried not to be vaguely disappointed Remus’ shirt was back on. “What about you?”

“A birthday party just left. It was horrible, the girl kept screaming.” Remus scrunched his nose and shook his head. “That’s why I was climbing, I needed to clear my head after that.”

Sirius made a face and scrubbed a hand through their hair. “Ugh, no. That sounds awful. We get bachelorette parties sometimes like that. Marly handles them usually though, sometimes they can be a bit much and, well, so can she.”

“If there’s anyone made to handle something like that, it’s Marly.”

“Right?” Sirius glanced over to where Marlene and Dorcas were, Marlene gesturing animatedly whilst Dorcas was doing something at the desk, then back to Remus. God, Sirius had forgotten how gorgeous he was in person. Those dimples were distracting. “I would say teach me something but I don’t think these jeans are conducive to climbing.”

Remus’ eyes went to Sirius legs. “Yeah, maybe not. Also, your heels aren’t the best shoes to climb in. Some other time I’ll get you up there.”

“You think we use the same muscle groups? I feel like I’d be shit at it. There’ll be ropes, though, right?” Sirius just couldn’t see themselves being up there, climbing like Remus did. They’d rather be throwing themselves around a pole or sitting in the splits for hours.

“I think the same muscle groups are used, yeah, but we don’t use them in the same way.” Remus looked thoughtful, tilting his head slightly. “And yes, you’re not getting up there without ropes. I’ve been doing this for ages. I’m not letting you on the course without the ropes.”

Sirius grinned. “And if I fell you’d catch me?”

Remus laughed, his eyes lighting up. “Yes, I would catch you.”

“I guess it’s part of the job description, eh?” Sirius teased, trying not to grin like an idiot. They loved this.

“No, I usually let people fall to the ground. I only make exceptions to catch a special few. Though, the paperwork is a bitch when they get hurt.”

Sirius couldn’t hold back a burst of laughter. Remus’ dry humour was wonderful over text but in person it was even better. “Anything to avoid the paperwork, right?”

“God, please.” Remus let out a long sigh. “So, what are you up to now?”

“Sadly, I gotta go meet Lily to do some admin. As much as I’d like to just go home and eat pizza. No rest for the wicked, or the queer,” Sirius said, smiling. They just couldn’t stop smiling, God, get a grip.

“Well, this queer is going to go home to rest. I guess I’m not wicked enough.”

Sirius chuckled. “Give it time, Remus, give it time.” 

“I’m sure you’re looking forward to doing some corrupting.” Remus raised an eyebrow.

That was it. Sirius had died. They just about managed a smirk at Remus and wondered how annoyed Lily would be if they didn’t show up to the meeting. “Oh, I think I am.”

“Ha, ah.” Remus bit his lip, his cheeks flushing. “We should, you know, hang out in person eventually.”

“We should, yeah.” Sirius glanced down at their shoes for a second. “What are you doing on Friday?”

“Nothing after I get out of here at 5.”

“I have an evening class ‘til 6, but maybe you could meet me after and we can… I dunno, go for drinks?”

Remus grinned. “Yeah, that sounds good. There’s this new tapas place not too far from your studio. We could do that.”

“I love tapas. That sounds great. I can just shower at the studio, so we can go right there, if you like.” Sirius absolutely tried not to practically bounce on their toes at the idea.

“I’m looking forward to it.” Remus ran a hand through his curls.

“Me too.” Sirius glanced at their watch and grimaced at the time. “I’m really sorry, I have to go, else Lily will kill me. I’ll text you later?”

“Sure.” Remus looked over at Marlene and Dorcas then leaned forward to press a kiss to Sirius’ cheek.

Sirius paused. Well damn, they’d intended to kiss Remus’ cheek goodbye but now Remus had beaten him to it. Grinning, Sirius tilted their head and kissed Remus’ cheek before stepping back. “See you on Friday, then.”

“Friday. Can’t wait.”

Sirius had to hold back running over to Marlene and screaming in happiness. They would just scream internally. All the way to Lily’s, and then scream into a glass of wine.


	14. Chapter 14

After showering and changing in the gym’s changing rooms, Remus headed back out front to say goodbye to Dorcas. He hoped that his dark jeans and patterned short sleeve button up looked nice. He never was sure about how to dress unless it was about what clothes were best to climb in. In every other situation he was completely rubbish. It didn’t help that Sirius had such an amazing style, Remus was going to look completely out of his league next to them.

Walking past the rock wall, Remus thought about Sirius’ visit just the other day. He nearly lost his grip when Remus had laid eyes on them, which would have been a complete disaster. Somehow he was able to make it all the way back down to the floor without falling. Then he proceeded to flirt with Sirius for a few minutes before they finally managed to set a date. Remus also daringly kissed Sirius on the cheek, and got a kiss back. That was nice. More than nice, really.

Even though he was excited, Remus was nervous. He couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before around anyone. They got on so well that Remus felt like he was never going to get bored of them. He hoped that their compatibility over text and their brief meeting the other day meant good things for the date. It would have been terrible if they had to repeat the disastrous night at the bar a few weeks back.

When Remus got closer to the desk, Dorcas let out a wolf whistle. “Moony! Looking good! Ready for your hot date?” She grinned, hopping on to the desk to sit.

“I’m a little nervous,” he disclosed in a mumble.

“You’re going to be fine. You two were adorable when they came to visit.”

“I hope you’re right.” He looked at his phone to see a text from Sirius.

_ Just about to go into my last class for the night. See you after? Just come right in. A forewarning, Marly is desperate to question you about everything, be prepared x _

Remus smiled, feeling a little better as he tapped out a reply to let Sirius know that he’d see them soon. “All right, I’m going to head out.”

“Have fun! Tell Marly I love her!”

With a groan, Remus headed for the exit. He hoped Sirius and he wouldn’t be as insufferable as the girls were. Yes, they were in love, but god they could be so annoying.

Remus caught the bus to the other side of town where Sirius and Marlene’s studio was located. The whole trip, he wondered what the night was going to bring for him. He really hoped that it would all work out because he liked Sirius so much. Without their good morning texts and constant stream of conversation throughout the day Remus would have been bored.

Right at 6, Remus arrived at Ascendence Studios and went through the glass doors in the front. It was quiet, only Marlene was behind the front desk. Her blonde hair was piled in a messy bun on top of her head, as if she just had thrown it up. She was also wearing the brightest pink sports bra. Marlene gave Remus the biggest teeth showing smile.

“Oh my god! Look at my little Moony, all grown. Are you excited? Sirius said you’re going to the new tapas place, you have to let me know how it is. What are you doing after? Do you have any plans? You should go to that art gallery a few blocks down. Oh! Or get an ice cream. That’d be cute.”

Remus couldn’t decide on what strand of the ramble he wanted to start on for a second. Then he decided on, “Yes, I’m excited and I’ll tell you all about tapas.”

“What about the afters? Huh? You can’t just do tapas.” Marlene waved a hand around.

“I’m fairly sure that we’ll figure it out as we go.” Remus chuckled, looking at the studio door to his left. There was faint music coming from inside, the only thing Remus could really make out was the thump of the bass. “Are they in there?”

“Yes, class is getting out right now. They went a little over. You can pop in if you want.”

“No, I’ll wait until they leave.” Just as Remus spoke the doors opened and a few women in cycle shorts and athletic shirts came out.

“There’s only a few people in that one, you can go in now,” Marlene encouraged.

Remus took a deep breath and went into the studio. The wood floor creaked and bounced a little under his feet. There were 10 poles in the large space, and the front and back walls were lined with mirrors. Remus found Sirius chatting with a short brunette woman on the other side of the room. They were in very tiny shorts (for skin grip on the pole, Sirius had told him) as well as a sporty tank top, knotted and showing off their midriff. Their hair was in a bun, pieces falling out of it from their work out.

When they looked past the woman, they beamed. “Remus! Sorry, Hestia, this is Remus.”

Hestia, the woman turned to him with a grin as Remus moved closer. “Hi, Remus, nice to meet you. I’ll talk to you later about that move, Sirius.”

Sirius nodded as Hestia started to walk out of the room. “Bye Hestia, see you later.”

“Am I early?” Remus asked them. “I know you said you wanted to shower and stuff before tapas. I was, er, I was getting kind of anxious at work trying to kill time.”

“Oh, no no, you’re on time,” Sirius said. “Class just ran over is all. The one time I wanted it to be punctual.”

“That’s good, me not being absurdly early.” He looked around the space again. “Shall I leave you to it? I’m sure Marly will love to ask me nine hundred more questions.”

“Er, you can stay here, if you like. I just want to stretch out a minute, then I’ll go jump in the shower. Stay, though, I feel like we haven’t spoken today I’ve been so busy.”

“Of course, I’ll stay.” Remus moved to stand back against the wall nearby to give Sirius some space.

Sirius shot them a smile, going over to one of the poles and lifting one leg up in the air so they were basically doing the splits against the pole. “Did you have any more awful birthday parties this week?”

“No, no awful parties for me. Thank freaking god. How were your classes today?” Remus watched Sirius as they casually sat doing the splits for a moment. How was that possible? God.

“Good, had some fun. The young ones are putting on a show next month so we were preparing for that.” Sirius dropped their leg down and arched their back with a few nasty cracking noises. “They’re really excited. It’s a mix of boys and girls and I just love how passionate everyone is.”

Remus smiled because it was adorable how excited they were about it. “That’s great. I’m sure they’re precious one stage, the little ones.”

“Oh yeah, it’s gymnastics, but a lot of that is transferable to pole, so when the classes change we’ll see them in the pole class I think. Some of them are so talented. Kids are so bendy,” Sirius said as they practically folded in half to put their hands flat on the floor.

Trying not to stare too much at Sirius bending their body, Remus looked towards the door. “You know, it’s really funny that you’re saying that while you’re making yourself into a pretzel.”

Sirius snorted. “This isn’t a pretzel, Rem. Although, I guess this sort of is?” They grinned and brought their arms through to the other side of their legs and stretched them out across the floor. “Can you even touch your toes?”

Sure, Remus wasn’t super bendy but he was sure that his jaw had dislocated watching Sirius bend that way. “Yes, thank you very much I can touch my toes.” He tried to focus on anything other than Sirius, so he demonstrated his toe-touching ability.

“Hey, not bad,” Sirius said before they pitched forward and rolled onto their shoulders, then landed into a sitting position. “Make a dancer out of you yet,” they teased.

Remus straightened up to stand. “I’m not sure about that. You saw my gangly limbs on the dance floor the other week.”

Sirius seemed to blush a little. “Yes I did, and you were cute. And you said yourself you reckon we use the same muscle groups. I think you’d be good at pole.”

It was now Remus’ turn to blush again. “Ha, no, no, no, I am not getting on a pole. I’m not embarrassing myself before the date.”

“Oh pleeeease. Come on, look, there’s even  _ climbing _ .” Sirius strode over to a pole and grasped it, lifting themselves up to climb up, ankles locked around for grip. “I bet you can do this bit.”

Remus nodded, copying what Sirius had done. He lifted himself off the ground with more than a little effort. It was not as easy as Sirius made it look. “Okay, I did it. Are we done now?” He gritted his teeth as he held on.

“No no, I’m gonna get a move out of you, Lupin.” Sirius didn’t sound like they were holding themselves up on a pole at all. “Hold on with both hands, right above left, then uncross your ankles and bring both legs to one side, and as you slide down, bring your knees up and you’ll spin a little at the same time.” Sirius demonstrated, making it look very easy.

Remus felt like he was shaking in an attempt to hold his position on the pole. With a deep breath, Remus dropped his legs then brought them up as he slid down the pole. Somehow he managed to stay on his feet when he landed. “Jesus! That’s hard.” Remus shook out his arms, turning back to Sirius.

Sirius laughed a little. “You did good. It’s hard without lots of skin contact for grip. You had all your climbers upper body strength holding you there, I can dig in with my thighs and such because I’m wearing shorts.”

“Thank you for making excuses for me, it’s very nice of you.” Remus smiled.


	15. Chapter 15

Pleased with finally being able to get Remus on a pole, Sirius left the man in the studio and ducked into the changing rooms for the quickest shower of their life. Remus had been a good sport with Sirius getting him to try it out, it wasn’t his thing and he wasn’t in the right gear, but he still managed that move pretty well. Plus Sirius got a little peek of his biceps beneath his shirt sleeves and that wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

Remus looked great that evening too, in a short-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. He seemed effortlessly stylish in a very casual and chill way that Sirius appreciated. They thought it went very nicely with their usually over-the-top fashion.

After a quick shower, Sirius got dressed. They had decided to just be themselves that night on the date, because Remus knew and understood. Sirius didn’t have to act more masculine than they wanted to. So they decided on a black pleather skirt, a soft, grey baggy shirt, and their favourite heeled booties. They threw their leather jacket on over the top and cast a glance at the mirror. It was fine, Remus said he wouldn’t care what Sirius wore, and Sirius liked this outfit. 

They threw their pole gear into their bag and left it in the office to grab the next day, before finding Remus out in the reception talking to Marlene. “Hey,” Sirius said, running a hand through their now-loose hair. “Ready to go?”

If it were possible to have literal hearts in one’s eyes, Sirius was sure that Remus would have done that. The man looked at them in a way that made Sirius want to cover Remus’ face in kisses. “Ready? Yeah… yes, yep.”

Sirius couldn’t help but grin at Remus’ reaction. They glanced over to see Marlene looking at them like she had wedding bells ringing in her ears, Sirius could tell. They rolled their eyes at her. “See you tomorrow morning, Marly. G’night,” they said, before heading out of the studio with Remus and starting down towards the tapas restaurant.

Sirius wasn’t really nervous, they didn’t think. More excited at the idea of spending more time with Remus, but they hoped their flirtatious banter would translate well enough into real life. “I’m starving, can’t wait for good food.”

“Me too. I read the reviews and it seems like they’re really good. I’m so hungry though I might eat anything,” Remus joked.

Sirius laughed. “If it’s really bad, I know there’s a good kebab place around the corner. Marly will cry at the fat content, but it’s a good back-up. I think it’ll be good though. I like tapas.”

“Marly and Dorky are not here for them to complain about fat content. They’re probably having some salads for dinner tonight.” Remus shook his head. “I have high hopes for this place too.”

“Wait.” Sirius took a long look around and walked closer to Remus, lowering their voice. “If they’re not here, and I won’t tell, and you won’t tell, does that mean I can eat my weight in  _ patatas bravas? _ ”

“Only if I can as well,” Remus said in a low whisper.

Sirius hummed, pretending to think for a moment and tapping the corner of their mouth with a finger. “I dunno… I’ll have to make sure they’re good before you have any.”

“Ah, how nice of you.”

“Taking one for the team, of course,” Sirius said, grinning.

“My stomach will regret this because I’m so hungry, but, what’s the best meal you’ve ever had?”

“Oooh, oh, that’s a good question. Okay sort of a cop-out, but my adoptive mum does the  _ best _ Sunday roasts. Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, veggies, gravy, the whole works, and it’s so, so good. I think it has to be that. Nothing fancy, but it’s delicious.” Sirius glanced over to Remus as they walked, thrilled at how well the conversation was going. “What about you?”

“That sounds delicious,” Remus said then paused as they could see the restaurant up ahead. “So there was this little place I went to in Rouen, France. It was on some little side street that I probably couldn’t find again with a map. Any way, the whole thing was so good. It was a five course deal. But the best part was this crepe and it had cheese, an apple, and some type of pork. I don’t even know exactly what was in it, but it was so good. I’ll never have it again.”

Sirius pressed their hands over their stomach and groaned. “Oh my god that sounds so good.” Thankfully, they were outside the restaurant and Sirius pulled open the door. “C’mon, quick, I need tapas before I actually die at the thought of that crepe.”

“That would be the worst possible way to end this date.” Remus walked into the tapas place.

“With my death by lack of crepes? I agree.” Sirius reluctantly turned away from Remus to talk to the server. They ended up with a nice table near the window and it definitely felt date-like, a little secluded, and sitting across Remus for a conversation, rather than over text, was lovely.

Dinner went well. They shared a bottle of red wine and ate far too much delicious food. Sirius did, probably, attempt to eat their weight in  _ patatas bravas _ , but it was worth it. Miraculously, Remus and Sirius kept up conversation almost all night, talking about childhoods and work and discussing the book Remus had been reading. Sirius had started the first few pages since Lily had finished it, and it seemed fun so far. 

When the bill came, they split it and carried on talking. Sirius definitely wasn’t ready to go home yet. They wanted to stay talking to Remus all night. “So… the night is still young.”

“It is… would you want to go to this gallery Marlene was banging on about?” Remus suggested to them.

“Oh! Yeah, why not. Sometimes she has good ideas. You know where it is or do I need to google?” Sirius said, pulling out their phone.

“I’m not sure. She said that it was close by, but close by to Marly could be a few miles.”

Sirius rolled their eyes. “That’s true. Okay, I’ll search, hold on.” A few taps on their phone and Sirius found the gallery was only on the next street. Marlene, for once, wasn’t exaggerating. “Ah, it’s just the next street over! This way…” Without looking up from the map on their phone, Sirius reached out and grabbed Remus’ hand to lead him along to the junction.

Outside the art gallery just a few moments later, Sirius came to their senses and seemed to realise they were holding Remus’ hand. Well, the man hadn’t objected yet. But still, Sirius dropped his hand as they put their phone back in their pocket and started for the door.  
  



	16. Chapter 16

Remus looked down at their hands, fingers interlocked, as Sirius led them both in the direction of the gallery. The date was going so well, Remus never wanted it to end. Their conversation flowed just as easily now as it did over text all week. He was so glad that he opened himself up to Sirius so they could get to where they were.

When they got to the gallery, Sirius dropped their hand from Remus’ and smiled as they walked in. Honestly, it was a huge mistake that Remus listened to Marlene. Why didn’t he take his own advice of never taking the woman’s advice. Everything she ever did was crazy and art was not something that was any different.

“What the bloody hell,” Remus said under his breath. The gallery was filled with performance artists. Some screaming at patrons, others stand naked with body paint on. The most terrifying was a clown that wanted you to feed him crisps for a price. “I’m going to have nightmares.”

“Er…” Sirius got a few steps in before they realised what they had walked into and swiftly turned back around to stare at Remus, wide-eyed. “I’m all for the body as art and breaking boundaries. But, uh. Think I prefer my art on canvas?” They glanced around, spotting a performance artist covered in paint, rolling around on a canvas. “Not… not  _ that. _ ”

Remus grimaced as he watched another performer bang their head against the wall. They were only wearing a g-string. “You know, I think we picked the wrong thing to do.”

“Y-Yeah… Let's go do… something else?” Sirius backed away towards the door, grasping Remus’ arm again.

Remus agreed, quickly turning for the exit with Sirius. They managed to get free without incident. They walked for a minute in no particular direction before stopping and doubling over in laughter. “That was horrible. What the fuck?”

“What the fuck indeed?” Sirius wiped a hand over their face. “Do you think Marly knew she was sending us into the Twilight Zone?”

“No! She probably thinks  _ that _ was art we would enjoy. It’s probably her favorite exhibition.” Remus reached for his phone. “Do you want me to see what else is in the area? Or… do you have any other suggestions?”

“Mm, let me think.” Sirius put their hands on their hips and looked around for a moment. “Oh! There’s a great dessert place around here that Lily and I went to in the summer. Ice cream and waffles, and oh — I wonder if they’ll have crepes. Not as good as Rouen though, I bet.”

Remus put on the grimest expression he could muster. “Sirius, I need to tell you something.”

Sirius frowned for a moment. “Oh?”

“I have the biggest sweet tooth and dessert is my favorite meal.”

“ _ Oh. _ ” Sirius grinned for a minute before giving a little laugh. “Jesus, I thought you were going to break some bad news or something, like, Yikes Sirius I’m having an awful time I’m gonna go home now, bye.” They hit Remus on the arm, still grinning. “Let's go for dessert, then.”

“I think your ideas are much better than Marly’s.” Remus hesitated for a moment then took Sirius’ hand again. “Where to?”

“This way. It’s not far,” Sirius said, smiling. They led the way down the street and through a little archway that opened into a small courtyard, with tables out on the cobbles. There were strings of fairy lights adorning the trellis outside and in mason jars on the tables. “They have  _ everything _ . Makes me wish I didn’t eat as much tapas, but dessert is practically a second stomach, right?”

“There is always room for dessert. I think I could eat an entire cow and still want to have something sweet after,” Remus disclosed as they went into the little café. Just walking through the door made his stomach rumble as he smelled the sweet air that Remus wanted to bottle for a candle -- vanilla, cinnamon, and caramel. He was thrilled that Sirius knew this place. “What’s the best thing on the menu, do you think?”

“You’re asking all the hard hitting questions tonight, aren’t you?” Sirius peered at the menu above the counter. “The waffles are  _ amazing _ , especially with chocolate ice cream and berries and whipped cream. They’re huge portions though. So I usually just get ice cream, else I end up feeling a bit sick.”

“Oh, I think I need to go for that. I love chocolate and on waffles with berries with whipped cream sounds like heaven,” Remus said, looking at the menu board behind the counter done is beautiful script.

“Okay,” Sirius said as they joined the short queue. “I want the crepes, you’ve put me in the mood for them now, and they do the best banoffee crepes, if I remember right. Lily would gladly kill for them.”

“We’ll just not tell Lily incase she’d kill you for eating one without her.” Remus knocked his shoulder into Sirius’.

After they ordered, they went back outside to the small courtyard when the person behind the counter let them know their food would be brought out to them. They picked a table under a small tree covered in fairy lights. If this wasn’t ridiculously romantic, then Remus didn’t know what was. “It’s really nice out tonight,” Remus said looking up at the clear sky.

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it,” Sirius said softly.

How on earth were they so beautiful? Remus felt a mild panic for a moment that Sirius was too good for him. Then he remembered the whole night and how Sirius looked at him and how well they got on. That had to be something, right. Just as Remus was freaking out, Sirius’ feet knocked against his under the table. They smiled as Remus did the same back to them.

“Alright, here you go.” They were interrupted by the waitress bringing over their desserts. “Waffles with berries, chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and banoffee crepes.” 

Sirius gestured for the crepes and sat back to let the waitress put the plate down, but kept their feet tangled with Remus’.

Remus looked down at his waffles as he picked up his fork. “Yes, this is a much better choice than the gallery.”

“Right?” Sirius shook their head and tucked into the crepes. “I definitely did not want to see a clown in a swimsuit… Oh, these are really good. I can see why Lily rages about them.”

“I’m not sure they could beat these,” Remus said after swallowing his waffles. “Want a bite?” He pushed his plate a little closer to Sirius.

Sirius looked a little wary. “Not gonna bite my hand off, are you?” They pushed their own plate over to Remus. “Swap you for some crepes?”

“As sweet as I’m sure you taste, I’m not going to bite your hand off. It might put me off my dessert.” Remus scoffed. “Sure, I’d love to try those.”

They swapped plates and Remus took a bite of the crepe. Sirius and Lily seemed to be right, they were delicious. He looked over at Sirius, who was happily eating Remus’ waffle.


	17. Chapter 17

Sirius ate some more of the waffle, grinning as Remus also tucked into the crepe. The night had gone so well and Sirius didn’t want it to end. They had talked about everything and nothing and laughed themselves stupid about the art gallery. And now they were sitting with their feet tangled together at possibly the most romantic café Sirius had ever been to. They were sure it hadn’t been so beautiful last time they were here, but they couldn’t fault the fairy lights because Remus looked so good with them twinkling around him. 

This was worlds away from that awkward first meeting after the pole competition. Now they both knew about each other they could be themselves, and Sirius thought that was wonderful. Remus didn’t care that Sirius had gone on their date in a skirt and heels, and Sirius wouldn’t care if Remus wasn’t sexually attracted to them. They were more than happy with just this.

“Ohhhh okay,” Sirius said around a mouthful of waffle and berries. “I’m afraid you’re gonna have to fight me to get this back. It’s too good.”

“I’m very strong from hanging off cliffs and such, but I won’t fight you because I’m enjoying the crepe too much.”

Sirius grinned, thinking of watching Remus at the climbing area earlier in the week. “Oh, that works out well then. No fighting required.” They took another bite of the waffle. “Although, I think I might end up doing laps for how sugary this is. Either than or just keel over.”

“Please don’t keel over, this date’s been going so well, but I guess all good things must come to an end.” Remus shrugged with a little laugh.

“I’d rather they end on a high note than me overdosing on sugar, though,” Sirius said. They really didn’t want tonight to end. With a sigh they pushed the rest of the plate away. They couldn’t eat anymore, no matter how good it was.

“You’re not going to finish that?” Remus asked as he got down to one last bit of the crepe.

Sirius stifled a laugh. “Oh my god, you really do have a huge sweet tooth, don’t you?” They slid the plate over to Remus, grinning ear to ear. “It’s all yours.”

“I told you. I looked so grim about that for a reason. It’s a real problem.” Remus took the plate with a smile.

Sirius knew they were looking at Remus with literal heart eyes, but they just couldn’t stop it. He looked so happy. “I dunno, you look so thrilled it makes me want to just make sure I have a constant supply of sweet things to keep giving you.”

“Don’t tease me like that.” Remus hummed after taking a bite of the waffle.

“Who said I was teasing?” Sirius said, watching the man.

Remus looked down at the plate with a soppy smile. “This has been a really nice date, Sirius.”

Sirius bit their lip. “I’ve had a really good time. Even despite the half-naked clowns.”

“I imagine I’ll be telling the story of the gallery for the rest of my life. It was memorable, for sure.” Remus dropped his fork and sat back, putting a hand on his stomach.

Sirius grinned and clapped a few times. “Well done, good sir. Conquered the Great Desserts and made it look easy.”

“Thank you, thank you, I’ve been training for it my whole life.”

“Well deserved.” Sirius sat back, trying not to stare at Remus, but they couldn’t help it. He was very, very nice to look at. “So… where to after we’ve recovered from our sugar comas?”

“It’s up to you. I’m the one that suggested the gallery, even though it was Marly’s suggestion, but I don’t trust myself right now. I’m up for anything, I just… I’d rather not the night to end yet.”

How was he so perfect? Sirius bit their lip and glanced at their lap again. “Me neither.” They picked at the edge of their napkin for a moment before glancing back up to Remus. Welp, time to take the plunge. “My flat isn’t far from here. How about coffee? I’ve got a really early pressing of Sergeant Pepper I reckon you’ll like…”

Remus’ eyes went wide. “You do? That’s awesome. Let’s go, then.”

Sirius grinned. “Ah, yep. Thought that might get you.” 

They gathered their things and headed out of the courtyard, and as they started down the street, Sirius reached for Remus’ hand again. They chanced a look sideways at the man and saw him smiling too. 

Sirius’ flat was only a short distance away. It was only small, but it was just Sirius, and their place to really unwind. Usually, they spent a lot of time either at James and Lily’s or Marlene’s, but they were always grateful to live by themselves at the end of the day. Not having flatmates seemed like a boon in this situation.

“Ah, here I am…” Sirius said as they stopped outside the door nestled between two shops. They dug for their keys in their pockets, sad to let go of Remus’ hand as they opened the door and led the way up the stairs. 

Inside the flat the door opened directly into the living room, which held the all-important record player. Sirius shrugged off their jacket and hung it by the door. “So, er. Coffee? Make yourself at home, please, shoes off, whatever you like.”

Remus kicked off his shoes as he took in the flat. His eyes went right to the bookcase filled with records. “Wow, that’s a big collection.”

“Go and have a look. Pick something you like whilst I make coffee?” Sirius went through to the kitchen and put the kettle on. Sirius glanced back into the living room and grinned at the sight of Remus in his little flat. They could get used to this.

As Sirius finished up the coffee, he heard the beginnings of  _ God Only Knows _ by The Beach Boys. The smile somehow widened, and they were sure their face was going to be stuck like that if Remus stuck around. When they went out into the living room with the coffee, Remus was still looking at their collection. 

“This is awesome. How’d you get all these?” Remus took the offered coffee.

“Been collecting since I was young. My adoptive dad was big into his records, so he bequeathed a lot of them to me. Brother isn’t into records so much, he likes his new technology too much.” Sirius sat on the sofa and sipped their own coffee, unable to stop smiling.

“I’m impressed. You okay with my music choice?” Remus wrapped his large hands around the mug.

“More than. Pet Sounds is a great choice. We can pick something else after. Take it in turns maybe.” Sirius drank their own coffee, slipping their heels off before tucking their feet up onto the sofa.

Remus nodded, coming over to join Sirius sitting on the sofa. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

Sirius shook their head. “Marly is taking the morning class. I get a lie in for once. What about you?”

“I’m off tomorrow. I was going to go hang off some cliffs by my fingertips for fun.” Remus laughed, setting his mug down on the table.

“I might regret saying this, but fancy some company? I like watching you hang off things by your fingertips, even if my blood pressure goes through the roof,” Sirius said, smiling. They turned their coffee mug around in their hands, watching Remus.

“If you really want to, sure. We could get you up there if you want, on the rope, of course, since I got on the pole tonight.” Remus nodded, tucking one leg under him.

Sirius laughed, setting their coffee down to bury their face in their hands. “Oh God, I knew you’d end up using it against me.” They took a deep breath and sagged into the sofa. “Okay. I’ll… I’ll give it a go.”

“Great, we can do a picnic after, if you like. Where I go climbing, there’s a good spot,” Remus suggested to them.

Sirius tried not to melt, nor let that show on their face. It probably came across in their voice though, when they said, “That sounds perfect.” After a moment they set their coffee down on the table. “I’ve had a really nice night, Remus.”

“Me too.” Remus’ eyes flitted to Sirius’ lips. “Could I kiss you?”

Sirius grinned, running a hand through their hair. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Good, that’s… yeah, good.” Remus leaned closer to Sirius, putting his hand on their cheek.

Sirius leant forward and closed the gap between them, kissing Remus softly on the lips. The kiss was light and gentle at first and Sirius didn’t want to overstep their bounds but Remus’ lips tasted sweet from their desserts. It felt like a kiss from a romance novel, honestly, one of their awful bodice-rippers. The kind that made the universe turn upside down. Sirius put their hand on Remus’ knee to brace themselves as they leant closer and hummed softly into the kiss.

Remus’ hand slid into their hair as he pulled back. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Sirius breathed, licking their lips. Their gaze flickered over Remus’ face to his mouth and then back to his eyes. They couldn’t stop smiling. “Definitely wow.”

“You really wouldn’t mind if we snogged all night without it going any further than that?” Remus’ brow wrinkled.

Sirius laughed a little before they realised Remus was being serious, their face softening as they did. They lifted their hand and rubbed their thumb over Remus’ jaw. “If it meant I was kissing you then no, not at all. Snogging all night sounds perfect.”

“Great because that sounds like a wonderful plan,” Remus moved back to kiss them once more.

“Really wonderful,” Sirius murmured as they met Remus for the kiss, sinking into him. Kissing Remus all night really did sound perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit (08/10/19): Our beautiful friend Anna drew the scene at the cafe of [Remus and Sirius' date](https://breathing-and-stuff.tumblr.com/post/188200473860/youre-not-going-to-finish-that-inspired), and we are so in love. We've love for you to check it out so you can see just how the scene looked in our heads!


	18. Chapter 18

Waking up, Remus blinked a few times, realizing that he was not in his own bed. He squinted and looked over to his right with bleary eyes to find Sirius snoozing next to him. The whole previous night came back to him as he took in their sleeping form. Another smile grew on his face as he thought the whole date over in his head.

When they got back to Sirius’ flat he was pleasantly surprised at how warm and inviting it was. It was compact, but didn’t feel claustrophobic because it was so light and airy. The front door opened into the living room, where Sirius’ sofa was facing the television and a large window that nearly took the whole wall. Next to the sofa were two bookshelves, mostly filled with their record collection (which was immense!). There was a tiny table close by with a record player on it. 

Just beyond that there was a white loft, and under it held Sirius’ kitchen. The kitchen held a little cooking area, tiny fridge, and a little table that was facing to look out the window. It was filled with various plants and fresh herbs. There wasn’t a lot of space but the way they had set it up made it feel and look roomy.

Remus was currently up in the loft with Sirius in his bed. They had got there after going between snogging on the sofa, chatting, and listening to music until the sun began to come up. There was never a time in Remus’ life that he felt so comfortable with someone. Sirius understood him, and didn’t expect anything from him. They were just so great, Remus couldn’t bring himself to leave their flat last night. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have plans to see each other only hours later because Sirius wanted to go climbing with him.

Next to him, Sirius let out a soft noise then stretched their arms above their head. Remus smiled when they turned a little to look at him, a soft smile on their face. “Good morning, Sirius.”

“Mm, this is nice. G’morning.” They blinked sleepily against the light and rolled onto their side. “Sleep okay?”

Remus reached out and trailed his hand down Sirius’ arm. “Yeah, real well. This mattress is comfy.”

“Mmm, you know you spend one third of your life asleep, on average? Mattresses are a good thing to splurge on.” Sirius stifled a yawn into their forearm before reaching out to run their fingers over Remus’ shoulder.

“Mine’s a bit saggy, I think I need a new one.” Remus moved so he could press a kiss to Sirius’ cheek. He really could kiss them all the bloody time. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

Sirius grinned and stretched onto their back, joints cracking a little. “You can just stay here. Good mattress going to waste otherwise.”

“I might take you up on the offer sometimes.” Remus shrugged. “Your body sounds like a glow stick.”

“Thank you.” Sirius grinned and sat up, stretching a little more. “Coffee? God… I could sleep for another day. Lie-ins are so nice.”

“Coffee sounds good, but if you want to sleep some more, that’s fine. I could go back to my flat to change then pick you back up before we go out to climb.” Remus yawned then pushed himself to sit up.

Sirius paused and looked at Remus for a moment. “Is it bad that I just don’t want you to leave yet? I don’t want this to end.”

Remus smiled and bit his lip. He was thinking the same exact thing. “I thought I was being weird for feeling that way.”

Sirius smiled and let their head drop against Remus’ shoulder. “Good. Okay. How about we do coffee and breakfast here? I think I have something that isn’t Marly approved… and then we can go by yours to grab some things, then onwards to my rocky death.”

“So dramatic. You won’t die, maybe just a slight injury. But that plan sounds brilliant.” Remus groaned as he rolled his shoulders a few times.

“Okay. Coffee.” Sirius slid out of bed and stretched down for a moment, putting their hands on the floor. “I’m going, you watch. Just… give me a minute.”

Remus felt the heat rise in his cheeks as he watched Sirius stretch again. “Bloody pretzel.” 

Sirius straightened up with a grin. “You love it.” They padded over to the ladder and climbed down, making it look ridiculously smooth and easy.

“Possibly,” Remus muttered as he reached for the shirt he had been wearing the night before.

After got his shirt back on and decided not to change out of his borrowed sweatpants for his jeans yet, he got down the ladder, less gracefully than Sirius. If he did make it a habit of staying at Sirius’ he was going to have to get used to climbing the ladder half asleep. In the little kitchen, Remus found Sirius putting the coffee on. They were only in their PJ bottoms, which were hanging low on their skinny hips.

He took a moment to appreciate Sirius’ toned arms and chest before shaking himself to offer them a hand in the kitchen. “What can I do?”

“You could… Oh, there are bagels in that cupboard,” Sirius said, indicating to one of the two cupboards as they got milk out of the tiny fridge under the counter. “We could have those if you like?”

Remus opened the cupboard and grabbed the bagels. It had been some time since he was so domestic with someone, he liked it. “Here we go.” He plunked the bag on the counter.

“I don’t know what we can have _ on _ the bagels, but that’s a decision for post-coffee Sirius,” they said as they handed Remus a mug of coffee.

Remus took the mug, his fingers brushing Sirius’ as he did. He took a deep breath of the coffee. “Mmm, I swear the smell can wake me up alone.”

“I know, right?” Sirius sipped their coffee and leant against the counter. They were watching Remus from over their cup, looking as if they were trying not to smile.

“I really do need to get home and change before we go out to climb.” Remus snickered as he ran his hand over his shirt.

“That shirt-sweatpants combo is definitely something.” Sirius grinned impishly. “Thought I’m sort of upset your shirt is back on.”

“Sorry to disappoint. Maybe if I get warm enough today I’ll climb sans shirt.” Remus rolled his eyes because he didn’t think that he was that interesting to look at. Not like Sirius.

Sirius clasped their hands together like they were praying and looked to the ceiling before closing their eyes. “Please be good weather, please be good weather.” They cracked one eye open and grinned at Remus, chuckling.

Setting his mug down on the counter, Remus cupped Sirius’ cheek and gave them a proper kiss. He lingered there for a moment, getting a fluttery feeling in his gut. “You’re ridiculous,” he said after pulling away.

“Yep,” Sirius said, grinning giddily. They stepped forward and kissed Remus lightly on the mouth. “Stop trying to distract me, Lupin,” they said, although they were the distracting one. “Coffee, breakfast, climbing, sans shirt.”

Remus pressed one more kiss to the corner of Sirius’ lips before pulling away. “Sure, me being the distraction. I’ll pretend that’s true. Let’s have our coffee then we can decide on toppings.”

“Okay.” Sirius padded to the small table by the window and pulled out one of the two seats. “Coffee first.”

Something had to go terribly wrong soon, right? Being with Sirius couldn’t be this good. The other shoe had to drop because that was Remus’ life. Though, he didn’t want anything to happen because it was just so _ good _ . They were so _ good _together. God, he was already in deep and they had gone on just one date after talking for a week. This couldn’t be possible. No matter what, Remus was going to enjoy the time spent with Sirius.

When they both had drank half their coffees, while sitting at the small table. Remus’ stomach gave a growl, so Sirius declared they needed to feed him or they would have been a bad host. They eventually decided on toppings, peanut butter and bananas for Remus and cream cheese and jam for Sirius. Then they sat back down, looking out the window onto the street below chatting about where Remus was going to take them.


	19. Chapter 19

After breakfast and a second helping of coffee Sirius went back up to the bedroom to quickly get changed. They were fairly nervous about going climbing. Pole and dance were some things they knew very well but their climbing experience was limited to climbing the pole and the occasional climb of the jungle gym in the playground as a kid. Trying not to worry too much, they pulled on a pair of dark sweatpants and a bright turquoise tank top with the slogan “Muscles & Mascara”. They threw their hair up in a bun, happy to look fairly masc today, grabbed a hoodie on the way, and hopped down the ladder.

“Okay,” Sirius said, gesturing roughly to themselves, “what else do I need?”

“Nothing, maybe a water bottle? I have all the supplies that we’ll need. We need to get picnic stuff too,” Remus said then reached out to tug on Sirius’ shirt. “I like this.”

“Isn’t it great?” Sirius grinned down at the shirt. “James bought it for me. It’s perfect.” They glanced back to Remus. “Thank you.”

Even just looking at Remus made Sirius’ stomach flutter. God, this was all so  _ good.  _ Sirius was just waiting for it all to go wrong. But maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t. Not for a while at least, and they could enjoy it for now. Shooting Remus another smile, Sirius eased past him, grabbed a water bottle from the shelf above the sink and filled it up from the tap. 

“Oh! Oh there’s some fruit salad in the fridge, I just remembered. We can take that for picnic things, and maybe swing by the shop on the way to yours to get some other things?” Sirius didn’t wait for an answer before they began rooting in the fridge for a bowl of various fruits. They grabbed a canvas bag from near the window and packed the bowl in there along with their water bottle. “Right.”

Remus grinned as they made their way out of Sirius’ flat, finally, and they walked to the bus stop to catch the bus across town to Remus’ place. Sirius was excited to see a glimpse of Remus’ home, they imagined it would be just like him in so many ways.

“So,” Sirius said on the bus, nudging up to sit knee to knee with Remus. “Where are we going?”

“To a place about 40 minutes out of town. There’s a few different courses there, we’ll get you on the beginner one, I promise.” Remus put his hand on their knee.

“Okay, good.” Sirius covered Remus’ hand with theirs. “If I die, I’m absolutely coming back and haunting you, just so you know.”

Remus laughed and turned his hand over to hold Sirius’. “At least I won’t totally hate being haunted.”

Sirius grinned, pleased with themselves. “That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” They let their head drop onto Remus’ shoulder, thinking about how disgustingly  _ nice _ this all was. They’d never had anyone understand them as well as Remus did. They didn’t feel the need to act one way or another to fit into the man’s expectation; they could just be themselves. 

They got off the bus the other side of town and Remus led the way to his flat, keeping a hold of Sirius’ hand in his. Sirius followed the man up the stairs—definitely not staring—and into his flat.

“Oh, this is so cosy, Rem,” Sirius said, moving in and standing to the side to let Remus get on with whatever he needed.

“Thanks, I like spending time at home, so I wanted to make sure if felt right.” Remus moved towards his bedroom.

Sirius looked around, spotting the bookcases all against one wall. “You got it right. It’s really nice here.” They picked their way through the room and peered up at the spines of the books, recognising a few Remus had talked about during their conversations. “It’s very you. Books and warm things and lots of climbing gear.”

Behind them in the bedroom Remus laughed. They turned around to see him pulling on an orange shirt. “Thanks, it’s a good place, even if the mattress isn’t as good as yours.”

“Ah yep, I’ve got the winning mattress,” Sirius said, grinning. They probably shouldn’t watch Remus getting changed but… eh, he was too good-looking to give it up when Sirius had already seen him without his shirt before. After a moment, they perched on the arm of the sofa, torn between looking around and exploring the flat to find out more about Remus, or just sitting and watching the man himself potter around.

“You know, I thought you’d be poking around my flat,” Remus said before stepping out of view in his bedroom. Something that sounded like a door creaked open.

Sirius laughed. “Got distracted by a certain someone, it seems.” They stretched their arms above their head and looked around again. “I suppose I’ll make myself useful though. Need me to get anything from the kitchen?”

“Sure, why don’t you look around and see if there’s anything good to bring. I think there’s some bread in there that should be good.” Remus poked his head out with a grin. “I am not distracting, I am just getting ready.”

“Oh, please, your general presence is distracting with dimples like that.” Sirius waved a hand dismissively at them. “Kindly stop being so nice to look at.” They gave Remus a grin in return and got up, going over to kitchen--that felt a lot bigger than their own--and looking through the cupboards for things to add to their picnic.

A few minutes later, Remus came into the kitchen carrying a black backpack. Sirius got a good look at his shirt for the first time, seeing that it was a bunch of hands in various climbing positions he assumed. He also had changed into shorts, which they appreciated because Remus had nice defined legs. “Find anything good?”

“Mmhm, I think so,” Sirius said after a moment to recover from the sight of Remus at his apparent most comfortable. “Got some bread, maybe we can make sandwiches real quick, and I found some veggies and hummus in the fridge too. I’m weak for hummus.” They glanced back at Remus again, adding the hummus and veggies to their bag. “You look nice. That shirt is very you.”

“Ha, thanks, I thought you might like it because you keep looking at my hands.” Remus held up his hands and did a bit of a jazz move, wiggling his long fingers.

Sirius looked at Remus for a second before covering their face with their hands. “Oh god, you caught me.” They peeked out between their fingers, trying to stifle laughter. “You’ve just got nice hands, okay.”

He looked down at his own hands with a pinched brow. “They’re torn to hell from climbing, kind of gross, really.”

Sirius grinned and grabbed one of Remus’ hands, linking their fingers and pressing a kiss to the back of his palm. “Well I like them like that.” They smiled at Remus for a moment, unable to stop thinking about how  _ good _ this all was. “Okay, moving on from my weird love of your hands… sandwiches?”

Remus put a finger under Sirius’ chin to tilt their face up before kissing them once. “Okay, sandwiches.”

Sirius knew their face must’ve been bright red, leaning in to meet Remus for the kiss. Reluctantly, they stepped back and the two of them worked together quickly to make a few sandwiches to take with them. It was so odd how easily they fell into domesticity together. Sirius hadn’t had that with anyone else for such a long time, perhaps even ever. But they and Remus worked together and moved around each other so effortlessly. Once the sandwiches were wrapped up and deposited in Sirius’ bag, they shouldered it again and smiled at Remus.

“Ready?”

“Sure,” Remus said as he put his backpack on. “We’ll drive, my car is outside.”

“Alright.” Sirius followed the man back down onto the street and Remus led the way to a 4x4, muddy and dirty from what Sirius assumed was driving around the countryside and to climbing trails. “I think this is the most ridiculous car I’ve ever been in,” Sirius said as they climbed into the passenger seat and set their bag at their feet.

“Why is it ridiculous?” Remus asked as he tossed his backpack in the back. “It’s a perfectly good car.”

“It’s a good thing we’re both used to climbing things else we’d need a ladder to get in here.” Sirius grinned, tucking one foot up underneath themselves. 

“I don’t normally do this, but I will allow you to pick the music,” Remus said in a very serious tone as he started the car.

Sirius put a hand over their heart, gasping. “Remus. I’m so…  _ honoured _ . You won’t regret it, I promise.” Smiling, Sirius connected their phone to the Bluetooth and scrolled through Spotify to find something fitting. After a moment, they picked King Princess’  _ Make My Bed _ and resisted the urge to put their favourite song on repeat like they usually did.

“Nice choice.” Remus smiled as he pulled on to the road. “What’s your favorite off this?”

Sirius whipped their head around to stare at Remus. “You know KP?” God, Remus just got even better the longer they knew each other! “My favourite is  _ Holy _ . I’ve got three-quarters of a routine for it. I love it. What about you?”

“Sirius, I’m a bit of a music whore. I listen to everything. I love Holy, 1950 is a close second. I’d love to see that routine one day.”

“Oh, 1950 is beautiful too though. She’s brilliant. And I’ll show you, next time you come by the studio,” Sirius said, smiling. Could they just spend all their time together? Sirius felt like they’d never get bored with Remus around.

“Next time, huh? So I guess we’re going on a second date. Wait… are we on our second date or is this still the first?” Remus glanced over at them.

“Oh, I think this counts as a second date. Going to sleep has to count for something, right?” Sirius said, laughing. “Although, I don’t really mind what we call it, so long as we’re hanging out.”

Remus shrugged both shoulders. “I guess it doesn’t really matter, right? As long as we’re both having a good time.”

“Yeah.” Sirius reached out and put a hand on Remus’ knee, looking out over the countryside as they drove out of town. “We’re having a good time.”


	20. Chapter 20

After driving out to the spot Remus had told Sirius about earlier, he led them on a short walk to the course. Even though it was a warm day out, there were only a few other climbers around. None of the others were at the beginner’s route, so Remus was glad for that. It would give Sirius sometime to get comfortable without feeling pressured from anyone else around them.

Remus got Sirius into their harness, telling them about the belay as he did so. He knew he sounded like he was at the gym as he was instructing Sirius about everything, but he wanted to make sure they were informed. Sirius was nodding along with a big smile on his face, only pausing to ask a question here and there.

“All right, so you need to make sure that you keep your hips as close to the cliff as you can. Try to keep the weight in your feet, not your arms so you don’t tire them out,” Remus said, checking the knot one more time.

Sirius nodded, still grinning at Remus. “Okay. That’s not so different from pole.” 

“Right, you’ll be fine. Oh, try to relax your grip when you’re up there. Don’t hold on for dear life.” Remus pressed a kiss to Sirius’ cheek because he couldn't help himself. How was he going to get on with his days when all he wanted to do was kiss them? “And take your time. There’s no rush.”

Sirius caught Remus with a hand on his arm. “Are you sure I can’t just watch you climb instead?” They kissed the corner of his mouth and smirked.

“I got on the pole, you can do this. Plus, I’m sure you’ll look really hot up there.” Remus bit his lip, trying not to grin so much. It didn’t work.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Oh now you’ve said that, I guess I’ve got to go up there, huh? Can’t deprive you of that.” They didn’t try to hide their grin at all. “Remember to catch me if I fall.”

“Absolutely, I got you.” Remus kissed Sirius’ temple before stepping away. “Start with your foot there, and your hand there.” He pointed to the rock. “And when you’re ready, climb on.”

Sirius let out a breath and did as Remus said, then, after a moment, climbed up, finding the obvious foot and handholds. Whilst they weren’t awful at it, Remus could tell they felt less at home there than in the studio. Probably about as at home as Remus felt on a pole.

As Sirius climbed up, he tried to guide Sirius as much as he could from the ground. They were doing fine, but kept screaming. Yet, Remus still somehow found them just as amazing on the cliff as they were on the pole. He tried very hard to focus on the task at hand to help Sirius, but kept admiring him. “Are you doing okay, up there love?”

Sirius didn’t answer for a moment and Remus saw them glance over their shoulder as if to look in Remus’ direction. “Yeah…” They laughed a little. “Not… sure where to put my foot next though. Did I mention I think I’m scared of heights, Remus? This is ridiculous. I think I might die.”

“You are not suddenly afraid of heights,” Remus said with a scoff. “You’re doing great for someone who hasn’t climbed before. There’s a spot to your left for your foot. You need to reach up with your right hand first then move a bit to the left.”

“Okay,” Sirius said, glancing down at their feet and doing as Remus said, reaching up with their right hand then lifting their foot. “Shit. My fingers  _ hurt _ , how the hell do you do this?”

“The same way you do the splits, practice,” Remus reminded them. “You might need more chalk, can you reach for it in the pouch?”

“Yeah.” Sirius adjusted their grip with one hand before reaching down with the other for the chalk pouch, but the movement must’ve unbalanced them because their other hand slipped. Sirius yelped and tried to grab onto one of the old handholds but couldn’t quite get a grip and fell for a short way before the ropes went taut and caught them.

Remus’ heart did a little skip, but knew that Sirius was okay. “I think it’s time to come down? Maybe we can have lunch now?”

Sirius made a little noise of frustration. “I nearly had it. But, yeah. My fingers hurt. I want to try again after though.” 

“Yeah, that sounds brilliant,” Remus said as he helped bring Sirius down. “You did really well for never climbing before. All the upper body strength from the pole.”

“Yeah, that must be it.” Sirius looked rather relieved to be back on solid ground. “You’re right though, all the muscles are different. My shoulders definitely hurt.” They rolled their shoulders a little and crossed over to Remus. “You’re a good teacher.”

“Ha, thanks.” Remus started to help them get out of the harness. “Let’s go eat. I’m starved… I feel like I say that a lot.” He reached for his pack to put his stuff away for now.

Sirius handed him the rest of his things and picked up the picnic bag. “Must burn a lot of calories being incredibly attractive,” they said with a grin. 

Remus burst out laughing, his cheeks burning. “Where do you come up with these lines? Jesus.”

Sirius tapped their temple. “Magical secrets. Come on, before you keel over from hunger.”

“Our whole relationship is going to revolve around eating, isn’t it?” Remus chuckled as he led them to a good area to eat. It was a flat area that overlooked a valley.

“Food is great, I don’t see why that’s a problem,” Sirius said as they walked up. When they got to the plateau they gasped softly. “This is beautiful…”

Remus sat down in the grass and nodded as he looked over the rolling green hills in front of them. “Yeah, it’s one of my favorite spots. The best thing about climbing is the scenery, I think.”

Sirius laughed as they settled next to Remus, sitting cross-legged, and began emptying the food out of their bag. “I love that.”

“What’s the favorite place you’ve been? Like, the most breath taking?”

“Besides here, with you?” Sirius said, grinning. “It would be in Italy, I think. The top of the Cathedral in Florence. It’s something like 800 steps up… but once you get up there, you can see for  _ miles _ . And it’s 360 degrees, so you can just see everywhere. Right out to the hills and beyond and it’s… it’s beautiful.” They were quiet for a moment, looking out over the hills. “What about you?”

“I love Florence! Tuscany is so beautiful, I’d run away there and live in a villa in the hills.” Remus sighed while he took sandwich Sirius offered to him. “There was this spot in Fiesole, an amphitheater, I believe or something, and it overlooked this valley. I couldn’t breathe for a second when I first looked at it.”

“Wow… that sounds gorgeous. A villa in Tuscany sounds like perfection,” Sirius said, taking a bite of their sandwich. “Tuscany is so beautiful.”

“Agreed. I think it might be my favorite place.” Remus tried not to think about what a holiday with Sirius would be like in Tuscany. They weren’t even close to doing something like that yet. He was far too tempted to ask Sirius to go with him right then and there. “Maybe one day I’ll go back.”

“Yeah, me too.” Sirius glanced over at Remus, then reached over and put their hand over Remus’ in the grass. “One day.”


	21. Chapter 21

Sirius couldn’t quite believe it. Sitting on the grass in the hills with Remus, talking about Tuscany and beautiful things, just felt too perfect to be real. They were half expecting to wake up and it all be a dream. 

They sat together and ate their sandwiches and hummus and veggies and fruit salad, talking, or sometimes just sitting in comfortable silence. Sirius was feeling a little sore and battered by their climbing attempt from earlier. It was a lot harder than Sirius expected, and so many of their skills and talents in pole weren’t that transferable to the cliff face. However, Remus was a brilliant teacher, and he had coaxed Sirius through where to put their hands and feet, and how to make the most of it. Sirius had slipped after their fingers had gotten too painful and for a second they had panicked, but true to his words Remus had made sure they didn’t fall. 

Sirius could see why Remus loved climbing, though. Being out in the countryside was wonderful, with the great views and fresh air. Remus suited it, being outdoors like this. He looked comfortable and at home, like he was on his home turf, and it was so beautiful to see him so excited and happy. Climbing was quite a rush, too, and Sirius could’ve easily gotten caught up with more attempts to reach the top if Remus hadn’t suggested lunch. 

After they had finished eating, Sirius stretched their arms up over their head. “Do you want to go and climb some more? I bet you’re itching for a go.”

“I sure am.” Remus reached up and rubbed their back. “Your shoulders okay, love, you keep doing that?”

Sirius leant into Remus’ touch a little. They couldn’t help grinning at the nickname. “They’re just sore, is all.” Sirius bit their lip and glanced sideways at Remus. “When you called me love when I was climbing I about nearly fell off I was so distracted,” they said, looking swiftly back out to the view. 

“Sorry, you don’t mind, do you?” He didn’t move his hands from Sirius’ back, just continued to rub some soothing circles over their shoulder blades.

“Mind?” Sirius laughed a little. “No, I love it. My heart is going a million miles an hour, I don’t think I can cope… That’s nice. You’re good at that.”

Remus smiled, ducking his head. “You’re good at doing that to me too. So, I guess we’re in the same boat.” He lifted his head and moved to kiss Sirius’ jaw. “I’m going to go climb now if you want to watch.”

Pft.  _ If. _ Sirius rolled their eyes and turned to kiss Remus briefly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Lead the way.” Sirius was well aware they were in too deep with Remus. It had been one (and a half, they supposed, if today counted) dates, but Sirius was having the best time, and they really didn’t want this to end. It felt like Remus felt the same way, too, and that only made it harder to pull back. They really hoped this wouldn’t end badly. 

Together, they gathered up their things and walked around to another one of the courses, one that Remus said was far more advanced than the one Sirius had tried. Sirius set their bag on a rock out of the way, excited to see Remus at his best.

“Not that I don’t have the utmost faith in your abilities, but be careful, okay?” Sirius said, touching Remus on the arm. Remus had taken his shirt off whilst Sirius set his bag down, and Sirius was trying their hardest not to stare at Remus because he really was incredibly attractive.

“I will be very careful. Just like death by crepe would have been terrible last night, this may be worse. I don’t want to ruin our day.” Remus knocked his shoulders into Sirius. He reached into the chalk bag before stepping up to the rock. “Be down in a bit.”

Sirius stepped back to find somewhere to lean against. “You take your time, I’m more than happy sat here watching,” Sirius said, smiling to themselves. Remus looked light as air when he climbed. He moved in ways Sirius wouldn’t have expected in a million years. Sirius found a rock to sit on that gave them a perfect view of the route Remus seemed to be taking. 

There was something about watching the man do what he loved, and it makes Sirius’ insides squirm with happiness. They wanted to invite Remus back home after all this and drink more coffee and listen to more records and kiss well into the night. Remus had been so concerned that Sirius would want  _ more _ than kissing the previous night, but he clearly didn’t realise how much Sirius thoroughly enjoyed kissing him.

Sure, Sirius thought, watching Remus climb, watching his back muscles move and flex, sure, they would quite like to do  _ other _ things with the man too, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. Sure, they would quite like to get Remus entirely naked and on their bed with the good mattress and kiss him all over, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they didn’t. Not when they got to watch Remus like this.

Sirius watched as Remus shifted and jumped for a handhold slightly out of his reach. Their stomach dropped for a second but Remus caught the ledge--of course he did--and swung himself up to find a place to set his foot next. The muscles of his shoulders and upper arms bunched as Remus reached for the next hold. Sirius rubbed a hand over their face, so very easily distracted by all that skin. Or rather, not distracted at all. Maybe that was the problem. Remus was so bloody good to look at, Sirius couldn’t look away. Given the choice of the view from the top of the Duomo, or Remus climbing, Sirius knew which one they’d pick. 

Remus hauled himself up onto the outcrop at the top of the cliff face and sat with his legs hanging over the edge for a moment, probably to catch his breath. Sirius waved up at him, grinning ear to ear and trying not to focus on the arousal simmering under their skin. God, he was just so gorgeous.

“Having fun down there alone?” Remus called down to them.

Sirius grinned, clearing their throat before calling back. “Oh, you have no idea.”

Remus let out a deep laugh. “Sure, I’ll come down now.”

Sirius laughed, hoping their face wasn’t as red as it felt. They watched as Remus picked his way back down the cliff face and jumped the last few feet, landing deftly. As Remus made his way over to where Sirius was sitting, they hopped off the rock and met him halfway. 

“You,” Sirius said, stepping close to Remus and putting a hand on either side of his face, “are so bloody gorgeous, I think it might be illegal.”

Remus was breathing heavily as he gave a little head shake. “So are you.”

“Psh, this is about you.” Sirius leant in and kissed him lightly. “Just shush and let me kiss the living daylights out of you.” Grinning, Sirius kissed Remus again, not pulling back this time.

One of Remus’ arms wrapped around their waist, their strong hand resting on the small of Sirius’ back. The other came up to Sirius’ shoulder. He deepened the kiss, tongue teasing into Sirius’ mouth. Sirius let him in, one hand coming up through Remus’ slightly damp hair as they pressed closer, tongue curling back against his. Their other hand stayed on Remus’ cheek, thumb brushing over the slight stubble there as they kissed. 

Sirius pulled away after a moment, unable to stop grinning. They brushed a hand through Remus’ hair and tipped their head to rest their forehead against Remus’. “So bloody gorgeous.”

“Look, the sun is about to set, do you want to go watch it?” Remus ghosted his lips over Sirius’ jaw.

Sirius smiled to themselves.  _ You keep doing that _ , they thought,  _ and I’m putty in your hands _ . They turned to kiss Remus’ cheek. “That sounds amazing. Back to the grass?”

Remus pulled back, with a low hum. “Yeah, let’s go.” He grabbed their hand. Sirius squeezed their fingers as they made their way over to the grass, sitting down in practically the same spot.

Sirius sighed happily, sitting close to Remus and resting their head on his shoulder. The sun was staining orange and pink and the countryside was starting to go quiet around them. “I don’t know about you,” Sirius said softly, “but this has been a pretty great first date, or two.”

“The best. What are you doing after?”

“Nothing. I have work tomorrow morning. And I wish I didn’t, so we could just carry this on.”

“We could go back to one of our places and get something to eat. Maybe watch a movie?” Remus suggested to them.

Sirius grinned, their heart soaring. They turned their face into Remus’ arm a little, kissing his shoulder. “That sounds perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS STRAIGHT UP FLUFF! Jenn and I are so excited we could share it with you. We never want to let them go. Part II is going to be a bit of a departure from this so please read the tags when it gets posted. We're a bit more On Brand with it, but there is still going to be plenty of fluff.
> 
> Also, thank you so much for all your lovely comments!


End file.
